Solving Problems
by sockospice
Summary: Laura hasn’t been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she rejoins them, she finds that all is not well. Can she sort things out? Featuring Randy, CJ, HBK, HHH , Lita, Trish, Christy and more. FINISHED!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Solving Problems (1?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in fanfic dot netparlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?  
Author's note: This is an OC fic. It's got many Sueish qualities, but I thought I'd write it anyway, if only to get it out of my head. Plus, it's kind of fun. Concrit welcome, as I don't often write het.

"Christopher?"

Jericho looked over, surprised at a fan addressing him so familiarly. He smiled as he realised who it was. "Laura!" He walked over and hugged her. "How you doing babe?"

"I'm good. Miss me?"

"Of course. Come with me." He helped her over the barrier, to the consternation of the other fans gathered there, and escorted her backstage. "It's so great to see you again."

"I missed you guys, so when I heard you were in town, I thought I'd come by and say hello." She smiled shyly. "How's Jessica?"

"She's great. You know we have a little girl now?" Laura shook her head. "She's a year old, I've some pictures if you want to see."

"Yeah! Congratulations babe."

As Chris showed all the photos he carried round with him she cooed with excitement and happiness. She'd always been close to the Canadian and had got to know his wife well. "Ah, Chris, I'm so happy for you."

"What about you? One, why haven't we heard from you in the last few years, and two, what are you up to now?"

Laura sighed, "after everything, I just needed a few years away. Too many bad memories and all that."

"I can understand that… we missed you though. So what have you been doing?"

"I got my first novel published, and the second is with my agent right now."

"You did it?" Chris pulled her into a hug, "congratulations!"

Laura just blushed. She'd written her novel under a pseudonym, and was still somewhat shy about accepting praise, although it had actually been extremely successful. As the genre of 'chick lit' was still so popular, a movie company had bought the rights, so she was, for the first time in her life, financially secure.

"You didn't just come over here to see me though, did you?" Chris grinned, he was so delighted to see his friend, and to see her looking so well, he couldn't wait to call his wife and tell her the news. "Want to go and say hello to the others?"

"Love to. I've missed you guys."

* * *

"Laura!" Steph's excitable voice could be heard almost across the arena. "What are you doing here? I've missed you so much!"

"Missed you too sweetie. How's you and Hunter going?" Laura hugged Stephanie enthusiastically

"We're ok." There was some discontent in Steph's voice that Laura picked up.

"We'll talk later, yeah? Doing anything tonight?" Steph shook her head, "right, we'll go for a drink and you can tell me all about it."

"OK. You staying for the show?"

"If you don't mind."

Steph laughed, "of course you're welcome to stay. I'm can't wait to tell daddy you're here. He'll be so pleased to see you."

Chris decided to interrupt at this point, as he knew that if the two women started talking properly, he'd never manage to separate them. "I'm gonna go and take Laura to see some of the others, see ya later."

Laura acquiesced. It had been so long since she'd seen everyone, she was really starting to realise how much she'd missed being around the wrestling business.

The next people she saw were Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit. Both greeted her with surprise and with a big hug.

"How are you sweets?" Shawn caressed her cheek affectionately.

"I missed you Shawn. How's Becca and Cameron?"

"They're good. He's growing up too fast… and we've had another since."

"Really? Becca's been good for you ain't she?" Laura spoke with a wisdom beyond her years; she'd known Shawn before he'd met his wife, and he'd been on a train to self destruction. Becca had saved him in more ways than one, and Laura had a great respect for her.

"Never looked back since I met her." The love in Shawn's words was unmistakable. "She often asks about you too."

Laura grinned and turned to Chris, "and Nancy and the kids?"

"They're great. They'll be pleased to hear you're back in town." Chris Jericho and Shawn both sensed the meaning behind Benoit's words.

"There's a back story here," Laura was pretty perceptive herself. "I'll find out more from Jericho and Steph later."

"So you plannin' on stayin'?"

That wasn't something Laura had particularly thought about. It was a possibility though, as she would be free to travel for the next few months until the release of her next book.

"Maybe. We'll see what happens."


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Solving Problems (2?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in ffn parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?  
Author's note: Ah I'm enjoying writing this. It's fun, and I don't have to take it too seriously. Concrit, as ever, is welcome though. Specific nitpicks are especially welcome, as they're easier to fix than the bigger things. And easier to transfer over to my more serious writing. I've decided that 'Taking Chances' is getting a sequel or two (definitely one, the rest depends on what happens with the rest of the draft), as I really enjoyed writing it, and the two main characters have got a lot of potential for development. Hey, you don't really care though, right? You're here for the sueage!

Laura used the next few hours to catch up with the other wrestlers she knew, and with Chris as her escort was introduced to some of the newer guys. She watched the show in Steph's company, and the two women gossiped as if they'd not spent any time apart.

"So tell me about you and Hunt. What's the deal?"

Steph sighed, it was something that she'd been arguing with her husband about, and it wasn't like she could talk to anyone else about it. Laura however, she'd always been brilliant with other people's problems. "We're trying for kids."

Laura smiled, and then realised that there was no joy in this information. "It's not going well?"

"It's been six months now. I've been tested and I'm fine… he won't."

"Doesn't think anything could possibly be wrong?"

"I keep asking… but we just get so stressed and end up arguing."

Laura shook her head, two stubborn personalities like that, she wouldn't want to witness one of their fights. "That won't really help things, you need to sit down and talk about all the possibilities."

"Easier said than done with Hunter." Steph was so tired of it all. She wanted kids more than anything, and with Shane having recently become a father she felt like everyone had expectations of her that she just couldn't live up to.

"Want me to talk to him?" Laura offered.

"Would you?" Steph was a little worried that Hunter would be angry that she'd been talking about their problems to someone else, but she also knew that if anyone could get through to him, Laura could.

"Sure. Can't promise anything, but it's worth a try."

Steph nodded pensively and stared at the monitor.

"So what else is going on around here? I sensed a bit of an atmosphere." Laura knew that the wrestling business ran on egos and gossip, but there was something not quite right about the way things were. Benoit and Michaels had alluded to something going on, and Jericho was quite concerned about something, although he'd tried hard to hide it.

"Egos. Bitchiness. The usual." Steph had grown up with wrestlers, and there was very little any of them could do that would surprise her. "The whole Matt Hardy thing split the locker room, and some guys have been misbehaving… they're nice guys, but young, and some of the older wrestlers can see these people going on a self destruct mission and they can't do anything to stop it."

Laura made a mental note to ask Chris how Matt was getting on, and to go and find Lita later on. She was close to the red head and knew that there was much more to the situation than met the eye. "So what's the answer to dealing with this?"

"You. Travel with us for a few months, as a counsellor, friend, problem solver, whatever. But please, travel with us, I'm sure you can sort things out. We'd pay all of your expenses and everything."

Laura was unsure. It had been a few years since she'd travelled with the guys, and thinking about that time brought back bad memories. It wasn't something she felt like revisiting, but she did miss the camaraderie, the jokes, the good friends she'd made. Writing could be a lonely business, and it would be good to get away, to forget about the stress of the publication of her new book. She looked up at Steph, and saw the half smile and hope. "OK. Why not?"

"Fantastic!" Steph hugged her friend joyfully. "Oh Laura, I'm so glad you're here."

"As am I." The voice from behind them made them both turn round.

"Daddy!"

"Vince, hi. Nice to see you again." Laura smiled, the man never changed. He strutted over to her and kissed her cheek.

"Laura, welcome back. It's good to see you. You're doing well by the looks of things."

She nodded shyly. Steph couldn't wait to share the good news, "Daddy, Laura's agreed to travel with us for a few months. She's published a book and she's about to release another and until then she's gonna travel with us. She's gonna sort everything out."

"Hey, you called me a problem solver not a miracle worker," Laura joked.

"Whatever, that's good news," Vince smiled, "I don't care how it's done, but I'd like to get this ship back on an even keel. There's been too much trouble recently, and it's not good for business."

"I'll do what I can," Laura was curious as to what she'd got herself into. "No promises mind."

"So do you want me to tell you about what's been going on?" Steph was keeping one eye on the TV monitor, but was more than ready to spill the beans.

Laura shook her head, "I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. You know me Steph, I don't like judging people by what others say. I know it's got me into trouble before, but…"

"Yeah, I know. And I know what you're implying but you weren't to know that he would turn out like that babe, none of us expected it." Steph had caught the waver in Laura's voice, and knew what she was referring to.

"I guess," Laura forced a brightness into her voice. "Listen, I want to go and talk to Lita. We still going for a drink later? Shall I invite all the girls?"

"Yeah, meet you after the show?"

Laura nodded and walked off, asking a few guys for directions to the women's locker room. Eventually finding the place - she'd never had the greatest sense of direction - she rapped on the door and popped her head round.

"Everyone decent?"

There was a ripple of laughter, and a Canadian voice rang out, "hey, I recognise that voice."

Laura walked in and was immediately grabbed by Trish and hugged vigorously. "Girl, damn we've missed you."

"Missed you too Trish. You're looking good."

"Don't I always?"

"As modest as ever I see." Laura was aware of the curious stares that had greeted her arrival, so turned to the other girls, "are you not gonna introduce me Trish?"

"Sorry, how rude of me." Although she was a smart girl, Trish did have her blonde moments, "Girls, this is Laura, an old friend of everyone. Laura, this is Christy, Maria, Stacy and Victoria."

"Nice to meet you all," the newcomer smiled. She didn't get a chance for conversation as her name was shouted out in a tearful voice.

"Laura?" Lita almost ran over to her. "Laura, oh god I'm so glad you're here, I've been so stupid."

She pulled the redhead into her arms and allowed her to cry into her shoulder, whispering comforting words into her hair. Once she thought that Lita was calm, she gently led her over to a bench and sat down at her side. "It's ok sweetheart."

"It's never gonna be ok, I hurt him, I've lost everything," Lita sniffled. "I'm such a fool."

"We all do stupid things love, but some people learn from them, others don't." Gently, Laura stroked Lita's hair. "You can't beat yourself up over things forever. You made a mistake, you're not the first and you won't be the last. I know it's hard but you're strong. You'll get through this."

"I know… it's just, I feel so alone… everyone looks at me like I'm a slut… I guess I am."

"And don't put yourself down. There are two sides to every story and people don't know everything. You are not a slut, and you are certainly not alone. I'm here, whenever you need me. People will get over it. They'll soon find something else to talk about. I know you're a good person, so does Trish," Laura looked over to the Canadian who nodded her affirmation, "you'll get through this. You're strong, and smart, and beautiful, and you're a survivor."

Lita forced a smile and nodded. "You always were good at pep talks, weren't you?"

"I guess. I only say what's true though." Laura figured that now would be as good a time as any to change the subject. "So, me and Steph are going out for a drink later, you girls coming?"

Trish looked round at the others and nodded, "sounds great."

Laura kissed Lita on the cheek, "you too babe, you need cheering up, and who better than all us girls to do it, right?" Laura could sense a bit of an atmosphere that suggested that all was not sweetness and light in the ladies locker room, but she thought that with a night out she could assess the situation, and cheer Lita up at the same time.

"Thanks Laura."

There was a knock on the door and another Canadian voice rang out, "you girls best get ready, there's a sexy beast coming in."

Jericho was greeted with laughter, even from Lita. He walked in, smiling. "Ladies, I need to steal Laura off you for a while. You can have her back later."

Laura was intrigued and stood up, "I'm meeting Steph in…" she checked her watch, "about an hour. We'll come and find you, ok?"

Once outside the locker room Laura looked at Chris curiously, "so, Jerky, spill it."

"Hunt heard you were back and he wanted to say hello."

"And?" She knew there must be more to it than that.

"And there are a couple of guys I want you to meet." Chris' tone was guarded, which immediately put Laura on edge. He was usually jovial and carefree.

"Don't tell me anything," she warned, "I'll work stuff out for myself."

"I know. I just want you to see how things are."

"Right."

They walked along in silence. Laura was a little worried; it seemed that everyone was expecting her to solve all of these problems, and she wasn't quite sure why. She'd always been the one that people had gone to with their problems, but that didn't mean that she could solve every issue they brought to her. Whatever was going on at the moment sounded like it was dividing the locker room.

And with as many volatile personalities as the WWE had, that would never be a good thing.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Solving Problems (3?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in ffn parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?  
A/N: Still enjoying this, up to about 15000 words now, it's great fun.

"Laura, Steph told me you were back." Hunter greeted her with a warm smile. "It's really good to see you."

"You too." She sat down next to him. Jericho had gone to find some of the other wrestlers that Laura hadn't yet met. "Can we talk?"

He sighed, knowing that Steph would probably have already talked about their problems, "I know what you're gonna say. I should go get myself tested, see if it's my fault Steph can't get pregnant."

"Actually, mister mind reader, I was going to say that perhaps you should talk to her about why you're so reluctant to go."

"What do you mean?"

"I figure there must be a reason why you don't want to go, and it must be something big cos I know you've always wanted kids. So perhaps if you talk to her about it, tell her how you feel, then she might understand, help you through what's going on, and then you might not be arguing so much."

He smiled at her, knowing that he should never have underestimated how perceptive she was. "You know me so well. How can I tell her I'm scared?"

"She knows you're not invincible, she'll understand."

"I don't want to let her down."

"Which do you think hurts her more?"

He nodded, "you're right, as always. I'll talk to her."

"Without getting defensive and arguing?"

"Without getting defensive and arguing," he stood up and stretched, "want to come and watch the end of the show?"

"Sure. I'm meeting Steph and the girls after anyway."

"Are you all going out?"

"Yep."

"Oh my god. You lot together… that has to be classed as dangerous."

Laura giggled, "too right. Come on then. You can introduce me to anyone I haven't already met."

On the way, they met up with Jericho, Shawn and a couple of others.

"Laura, this is Randy Orton and Dave Batista," Jericho motioned to the two men who walked with them. "Guys, this is Laura, a very good friend of ours."

"Hey," Batista looked a little distracted and uninterested, but Randy smiled and held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you."

She took his hand and grinned, "you too."

They reached the monitor area and all gathered round the largest, watching the main event. Edge was fighting Chris Benoit, and they put on a great match. Laura spent more time watching the people around her. Steph came over to talk with her husband quietly, and a look that crossed Batista's face did not go unnoticed. The group was gradually joined by a few others, including the girls with whom Laura and Steph were going out. Laura watched with interest as Randy moved to allow one of the girls a better view of the screen. Maria looked up at him with something akin to fear, shook her head, and moved to the other side of the group. Things were certainly becoming clearer to Laura.

Their attention was diverted from the screen when a loud southern voice was heard. "What the fuck is that psycho bitch doing here?"

Laura looked over and groaned. It was Shane Helms. He'd never forgiven her for what happened with Jeff. She felt Chris' arms wrap around her waist and his anger was evident in his voice.

"Fuck off Helms. How long are you gonna keep this shit up for? It's not Laura's fault Jeff got fired, he failed the fucking drugs test."

"She drove him to it."

"He was the psycho, not her, now if you have nothing else to say, get the hell out of here before I beat the crap out of you."

"Bitch," he spat before walking off.

Chris turned her to face him and hugged her protectively. "Don't listen to him sweetheart, he's just an idiot."

"Maybe I should go… I don't want to contribute to any trouble; there was enough last time I was here."

"No way, you weren't the cause then, and you won't be now. Don't let him get to you. He's an asshole."

She looked up and forced a smile. "Thanks Chris. You always look after me."

"Someone has to. Sometimes I think you're just too nice for the idiots round here." They turned back to the monitor to see that the show was over. Edge had used his briefcase to get the win, and was on his victorious way backstage.

Composing herself, Laura looked at the girls. "Ready to go?"

Steph looked at Hunter and he nodded, "you have fun, I'll see you back at the hotel. Call me if you need a ride home."

"Awww," the other girls giggled, and linked arms as they walked off.

The guys watched them go, glad to see them all smiling, even Lita. Morale had been so low recently; it would do everyone good to have a little fun.

One by one the guys dispersed. Randy waited until everyone else had gone before approaching Chris.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but what was that stuff with Helms and Laura?"

Chris suddenly realised that Randy hadn't been around when the situation with Jeff had happened. He didn't want to gossip about Laura, but he preferred that Randy heard the truth from him rather than listen to other people gossip, as they most definitely would. He knew full well that the man couldn't keep a secret if his life depended on it, so if he was going to spread any stories, hopefully Chris could ensure that they wouldn't be ones that would hurt Laura. The truth would be a good start.

"She used to date Jeff Hardy. She travelled with us for a while, that's how she knows us all. He started abusing drugs and fucking her up, so she left. No one was happy about the way he treated her, and Vince had him drug tested. He failed the test and was fired. Helms for some reason thought that was unfair and has held a grudge against her ever since."

"Asshole. She seems nice."

Chris was wary of Randy, a man with a reputation like that was the last thing Laura needed, "yeah, she is. Don't fuck with her man, or you'll have to answer to me, and Hunter. She's like a little sister to us and we don't want to see her hurt again."

"Hey, I was just asking. Don't bite my fucking head off."

Chris shook his head as Randy walked off, the young man was one of the problems he hoped that Laura would solve. He'd noticed that Randy had been making an effort to change his attitude in recent weeks, but he also saw that it would take a long time for anyone, especially any of the girls, to trust him again.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Solving Problems (4?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in ffn parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?

The girls decided to go to a raucous bar in the centre of town. They all sat round a huge table, and once Laura had instigated a few drinking games, the drink and chatter was flowing freely.

"So Laura, Trish said you write…"

Laura blushed, "yeah, I had a book published last year, got another one going through right now."

"Anything we might have read?" Maria asked.

The others laughed. "Since when did you read anything other than National Enquirer or the back of a cereal packet girl?" Trish asked.

Offended a little, Maria changed the subject, "so how do you know everyone?" She winced as Lita kicked her under the table. "What did I say?"

"It's ok, you'll probably hear all about it anyway. I used to date Jeff Hardy, travelled with him for a while. We split up just before he got fired. I needed some time away, but I really missed everyone." Laura shrugged, "we used to have a lot of fun."

"We missed you too," Lita put an arm around her friend's arm appreciatively. "Really did. This girl…" She stopped dramatically, and took a drink, "this girl is incredible. If you ever have a problem, talk to her. She's got this way of making you look at your problems and seeing them differently,"

Laura blushed, and decided to change the subject, "and I can party! Speaking of which, we really need to liven this up. Tequila anyone?"

Steph shrieked and waved over to a waiter. Laura leaned over and placed her order - she figured a bottle of tequila would liven things up, and allow the women to bond a little more. She'd noticed some tension between a few of the women: some were very quiet, others ignoring certain people. While she could understand that some had known each other for longer than others, they were all in the same boat, all trying to make it in a male-dominated industry, so she figured they would be better off supporting each other rather than fighting. If only they could see that.

* * *

Laura was surprised how quickly she got back into the routine of travelling with the wrestlers. It was a hard life, but fun. She busied herself in getting to know all of the new guys, watching and listening to her friends, working out the dynamics of how things were currently working.

It was interesting. She had soon worked out that people had perceptions of others that they accepted, and that these perceptions were not always accurate. From listening to locker room talk and gossip, she also learned a little more about what may have been the root causes of the strife and turmoil currently splitting the Raw roster.

One problem had solved itself. Steph was pregnant. Both she and Hunter were delighted, although keeping it quiet right now until they had got through the all important first three months. They couldn't resist telling Laura though. They knew she wouldn't tell anyone. As hard a secret as it was to keep, she at least knew that she only had another month to pretend that she knew nothing. It was hard though, as Steph kept dragging her off on surreptitious shopping trips for baby clothes.

Christy was having a tough time getting accepted, that much was clear. Laura could see both sides, as many of the women had worked damn hard to get into the wrestling business, so to see someone just walk in and get a great contract must have been galling. It wasn't exactly Christy's fault though. She didn't ask for preferential terms. She just took what was offered, and was now doing everything she could to gain the acceptance that had so far eluded her. Laura offered her a shoulder to cry on, and talked to a few influential people about the situation, hoping that if Christy could be accepted for her efforts by a few, acceptance by the others would soon follow.

Stacy seemed to have taken a dislike to Laura, which Chris attributed to her spending so much time with Helms. It did upset Laura, as she didn't want to be the source of any discord. Laura went out of her way to be nice, but figured that unless she could convince Shane of her innocence, she would have little chance of changing the blonde's mind.

Randy Orton was an interesting case. Laura had heard some horror stories about his behaviour - putting horrible things in the gym bags of some of the girls, being rude and obnoxious to them. It seemed that all of the girls had experienced his misbehaviour in one way or another. However, Laura had only experienced politeness from him, and had also not seen him treat any of the ladies with anything other than respect. Chris had implied that Randy had been attempting for a while to change, but that the girls had good reason to be wary. Laura could see their point of view, but also realised that unless people are given a chance to change, they would find it very hard to. She had discussed the situation with Trish, and had ascertained a few things that Randy could do to get back in the graces of the girls, and hoped that she would be able to build up enough of a relationship with him to be able to suggest what he could do to help his case.

Batista was an enigma to the young brunette. He seemed to have some sort of a grudge against Hunter, or Steph, or their relationship. It was difficult to work out exactly what was going on in his head, as the big man was difficult and intimidating to talk to, and when Laura did get the chance to talk to him, he was extremely reticent about his feelings. Fortunately, Batista was also very good at hiding his feelings from others too, so very few were aware of his animosity, or what the cause might be. At the moment, it didn't seem that his behaviour would cause a problem.

Edge was a problem. His attitude was the problem, rather than the man himself. Had he shown some contrition, some sympathy towards Matt Hardy, the other wrestlers would have accepted his indiscretion as something that happens on the road. However, he almost seemed to revel in the notoriety, and that just annoyed people. Matt had been a popular guy, and people really felt for him. Laura knew that this problem would soon die down. This sort of scandal always did in the wrestling world. It would be talked about in folklore, but it would soon cease to be a day to day issue.

Defining the problems had been the easy part. It was solving them that would be the problem.

* * *

"Can I talk to you about something?" Laura seized the opportunity to talk to Randy Orton: he was on his own, and seemingly in a pensive mood.

"Sure," his smile brightened as he saw who was addressing him, and made a space on the luggage crate he was sat on for her to sit down.

"I've seen the effort you've been making to get back into the girls' good books."

Randy nodded at Laura, noticing for the first time how green her eyes were. He didn't think he'd ever seen eyes that colour before, and he thought it was very cute.

"It's gonna take a long time for them to accept that you're genuine though."

"I know. I accept that, I was a bastard."

"What happened?"

"I was an asshole."

"But why? You seem like a nice guy to me. Something must have made you want to behave like that."

Randy was touched. It was the first time in ages that someone had taken an interest in how he felt. "I… I was dating someone, back home. She cheated on me… I was so angry and hurt; I lashed out at the nearest targets. I was stupid."

"You were hurt," Laura had figure the reason would be something like that. "And now you're paying the price."

"I wish I could take it all back. I never wanted to cause trouble, I just didn't think."

"It's gonna take the girls a long time to forgive you."

"What can I do?" Randy ran a hand through his short dark hair, "I've tried being polite, being nice, going out of my way to help them if I can, but they just won't accept it."

"Who did you hurt the most?" Laura hadn't heard the finer details of what had happened.

"Amy Weber. She quit because of me." Randy felt shame burning in his cheeks.

"Have you apologised to her, or anyone else?"

"I tried to apologise to Stacy for RKOing her, but she wasn't willing to listen. I'd apologise to everyone if I thought it would make a difference. I doubt that Amy would even talk to me though."

Laura flinched at the mention of Stacy, she felt bad about the coldness between them. Randy picked up on her discomfort and sadness, but didn't mention it. He was just appreciative of having someone to talk to. She decided to choose her words carefully, "the people Stacy's with at the moment, they aren't exactly forgiving. It puts you in a difficult situation, but you've done what you can with her."

"What about the others?"

"Maybe you could write to Amy, deal with it that way if you don't think that she'd listen to you in person. At least you could say then that you'd apologised, done all you could. I think she's friends with Christy still, they might talk about it."

Randy nodded thoughtfully, "would you help me compose a letter? I'm not great with words… you are, obviously."

"Sure," she nudged his arm playfully, "you're not a bad guy really. Momentary lapses of taste and decency maybe, but not as bad as people make out."

"That means a lot. I appreciate it, especially from you."

"Why me?" Laura looked at him in confusion.

"Because everyone respects you, and with good reason. You're an incredible person. I can see that and I've only known you a few weeks. You're… you're pretty and smart and I can see why everyone speaks so highly of you."

"Thanks." Laura looked down in embarrassment; she didn't take compliments very well. "I'd say you're wrong, but thanks."

"Nah, I'm right. You're sweet. No wonder Chris and Hunter are so protective of you."

"Ah, that's just because they blame themselves for not knowing what was going on with me and Jeff." Laura tensed: in one way she didn't mind talking about what happened, but there was a lot that she hadn't told anyone, including Chris and Hunter, and she intended keeping it that way.

"Partly. I don't think there's many people out there that would want to see you hurt again though. I may be an arrogant idiot, but even I see that."

Laura smiled uncertainly, at once relieved when she heard Hunter's voice, "Laura, hey babe, you OK? Randy, you monopolising our girl's attention here?"

"She's just helping me with some stuff." Randy was immediately on the defensive. He always felt intimidated by Hunter. The older man had helped him a lot, and they were good friends most of the time. Hunter's accomplishments were overawing, even to someone who had been the youngest ever WWE champion.

"Well, if you don't mind sweets, but Lita's in tears in the women's locker room and Steph figured you had the soothing touch."

The small brunette jumped down off the crate, "poor Lita, I'll go now. See ya later Randy." She looked at Hunter, who seemed preoccupied, and spoke quickly to Randy, "write something out, and I'll have a look at it with you later. Room 219."

He nodded his thanks, and watched as Hunter led her away. He really appreciated what she'd done for him so far, and wondered what he could do to say thanks.


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Solving Problems (5?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?

Laura hugged Lita supportively and looked over at Steph worriedly. The redhead was breaking her heart over something and no one could calm her down enough to find out what was wrong. Laura motioned to Steph to clear the room, which she did quickly, offering a sympathetic smile before shutting the door behind them.

"It's OK now love, they've all gone," Laura murmured, stroking Lita's hair softly. "Just you and me here now."

"Laura, oh god I didn't think it could get any worse." Lita sniffed and wiped at her eyes. "I've caught something. Apparently I've got chlamydia."

"Oh Lita." Laura didn't know what to say, but she could guess many of the reasons why this would have traumatised her friend.

"How could I be so stupid Laura? I thought cos I was on the pill I'd be ok. I didn't realise…" Lita sighed, "the doctor said that I could have had it for years, or I could have picked it up recently. I could be infertile."

"Oh sweetie."

"How do I tell Matt? Haven't I hurt him enough?" Lita started sobbing again and buried his head in her friend's shoulder. "I can't take much more of this Laura."

"I know, I know, and you don't have to deal with this alone love, I'm here and I'll be here as long as you need me to be. I'll talk to Matt for you. I've been meaning to call him anyway." Laura wanted to take as much pressure off her friend as possible, as she knew that the redhead was close to breaking point. "You need to talk to Edge though."

"I know. That's the easy part. I'm just so wary of hurting Matt… and at the same time giving him more ammunition to hurt me with."

"I'll talk to him sweetie. I can't make any promises, but I can try to make him see things clearly."

"He loves you Laura. He might listen to you… he used to talk about you a lot after you left. I think he blamed himself for not dealing with Jeff better." Lita smiled softly, calmer now. "Could you just tell him I'm sorry?"

"I'll try sweetie."

Laura gritted her teeth. This wouldn't be easy. She picked up her cellphone and found Matt's number.

"Matt? It's Laura."

Amy listened with baited breath to Laura's side of the conversation.

"I'm good, yeah… you ok? I know, I heard… yeah… I guess news travels fast… she misses you sweetie… she knows… she doesn't expect you to… she's not doing good… she loves you, yeah… hurting herself… hating herself… I know… listen… I need to tell you something… yeah, she's right here… she just can't deal with hurting you again… she's hurting too Matt… OK… look, listen to me before you freak, OK? Promise? She's been to the doctor and she has chlamydia, before you freak she could have had this for years, so you can't necessarily blame her… you need to be tested… of course… you can't tell… you could have given it to her… I know but you weren't a monk before you two met, were you? I know you're angry, so I'm gonna hang up now, give you a chance to think this through. Do so research… yeah… I'll call back later… you too."

Lita looked at her hopefully.

"He's upset… but he'll live. He's gonna go do some research about it, so he'll find out that he could have given it to you… I'll call him back later, talk to him a little more."

"Thank you so much sweetie. I don't think I could handle this on my own."

"You don't have to love. You're never alone while I'm around."

* * *

Laura didn't know what time Randy would be round, so she figured she'd best call Matt before he arrived. She knew she was getting herself into a lot of stuff here, but she so hated seeing people hurt, all she wanted to do was help. Hopefully her help wouldn't be construed as interference.

"Matt, hi it's me again… no I'm on my own now… yes, she knows… you have? And? See, I told you… yeah she knows that… that's what's hurting her the most… she's always wanted kids one day, yeah…. What about you? It's been shit for you… I know… I'm here for you… yeah… probably not the best person for you to talk to… how is Jeff?" Laura's voice caught slightly, "he is? That's really good… I'm pleased… no, not at the moment… yeah, did Chris tell you? I'm not doing too bad now. Yeah… life goes on… only Helms… it's hard for him… I know you did… not at all… I miss you too… Don't hurt her too much… yeah I know but don't burn bridges if you can avoid it… experience, yeah? Miss you too. See ya soon babe…"

It was a horrible situation, Laura felt for both Matt and Lita. She knew it was difficult to keep a relationship going while on the road, and they were such a good couple for a while. She just hoped that both of them would get through this without being hurt any more. They'd both lost more than they bargained for.

Laura lay down on her bed for a few minutes. It had been an emotional day and she wanted to chill out for a bit. Before she knew it she was awoken by a persistent, if tentative, knocking on the door.

She rubbed her eyes, and quickly walked over to the door.

"Randy, hi!" She smiled, still a little sleepy.

"Did I wake you? I can come see you tomorrow if you were sleeping…" Randy licked his bottom lip nervously.

"No, I've just had a busy day, come in."

"So… I wrote something… maybe I should leave it with you… I don't want to be any trouble."

"It's OK, I'll live. I just fell asleep for a few minutes. Nothing a coffee won't fix. Want one?"

He shook his head, "I'm fine. I'll tell you what, I'll make the coffee, you relax for a bit."

She smiled sweetly, "thanks. Black, no sugar. Where's this letter then?"

He pulled a crumpled sheet of paper out of his pocket, "I'm not sure, but tell me what you think."

She nodded and went to sit on the bed, perusing the words with interest. She only looked up when Randy blocked out her light and handed her a mug.

"So?"

"It's really good." She sipped at the coffee and smiled. Nice and strong, just as she liked it. "You mean all this, don't you?" He nodded. "That's why it's good. I took the liberty of getting Amy's address off Christy."

"Thank you." Randy was touched at the simple gesture. "I know it's not much, but it's a start. I know I'm going to have an awful lot to do to get through this… I couldn't expect the girls to trust me, not yet, but it's a start."

"I think I know something that could help kill two birds with one stone. Would you do me a favour?" he nodded eagerly. "Christy's making a real effort to fit in… she's fighting Trish again next week. Would you offer to help her?"

"She'll probably say no."

"True, but at least she'll know that you have some faith in her abilities. And then… would you just tell her that she did something good after the match?"

"Sure… I don't see how that'll help though."

"I'll talk to her… if the others see her accepting your compliments, they may start to think better of you."

"I guess."

"You don't have to." Laura didn't want to seem like she was dictating the situation. It was down to both Randy and Christy to make their situations different.

"No, I will. I can see that it makes sense. She's a nice girl, anyway." Randy took a deep breath, "I really want to thank you for helping me, can I take you out to dinner one night?"

Laura blushed, "that would be nice, thank you Randy."

"You really are sweet Laura. We're lucky to have you here."

"Thank you sweetie. I'm not entirely sure you're right, but it's nice to hear that." Not wanting to be rude, she tried to stifle a yawn.

"You're tired… I'm gonna go, let you get some sleep. See you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah. Goodnight Randy."

"'Night angel," he gently leant down and kissed her cheek, smiling as he walked away.

* * *

Laura met up with Lita for breakfast, to let her know how her chat with Matt had gone. Lita was relieved to know that Matt didn't blame her, it was one less thing on her mind.

"I don't know how to thank you enough babe." Lita sipped at her coffee and sighed, "without you being here… I don't know how I'd have coped."

"You'd have coped Lita, you're strong. You know I'd do anything for you though. I missed you loads while I was away… one of my characters was based on you… she was strong, with a vulnerable side. Everything I wanted to be." Laura looked down. There were very few people to whom she would willingly show her weaknesses, "you wouldn't have put up with Jeff."

"You loved him. We all did. You're still beating yourself up over that?"

Laura nodded, "I just feel… even now… I feel stupid."

"Did you ask Matt about him?" Lita was pretty perceptive herself, she guessed what had brought this on.

"Yeah. Matt said he was doing well… which makes me think that maybe it was my fault, you know?"

"I think he had to hit rock bottom before he would look for help… and he did, with what he did to you."

"You think?"

"Yeah. We all grow from what's happened to us, you taught me that."

"I need to start believing the stuff I say, right?"

"Right."

Laura laughed, "sometimes, I think I'm full of shit."

"Sometimes, so do I." The old Lita was in there somewhere.

"So any plans for today girl?"

"Gym, sleep."

"Interesting."

"You should come."

The brunette rolled her eyes, "in case you haven't noticed, the gym is not for me. Fat girls don't do the gym."

"You ain't fat."

"I ain't slim either. You and the other girls, you're all incredibly hot. I'm just… normal, ya know?"

"Ah, shut up girl. You're special, and we all know it."

"Yeah, whatever." Laura changed the subject quickly, "I have a load of stuff to do today anyway… my agent wants me to check over some stuff before we go to print."

"I'm so proud of you, you know that?" Lita hugged her friend. "I always knew you'd do it."


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Solving Problems (6?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?

Randy stood at a respectful distance from Laura as he watched her on her cellphone arguing with her agent. She had a fiery temper, as was evident by the colourful language she was currently employing. She ended the conversation with a passionate "it's my fucking book, my fucking way, asshole," and hung up with a pained sigh. She jumped when she saw Randy.

"Sounded nasty," he didn't want to seem like he was eavesdropping, but wanted her to know that she could vent at him if she wanted.

"Asshole agents. Trying to screw me out of money again. Nothing new there," she shrugged. "I can go elsewhere after this book if I want."

"It's a free life, writing." He looked kind of wistful, envious almost.

"Yeah… no security though. I'm ok cos of the film deal… others have to wait years for that sort of security." She looked at him worriedly. "Did you post the letter?"

"Yeah, I spoke to Christy too. She was a little reluctant but she said she'd think about it. She said she was grateful too. Trish and Victoria were with her… I think I might be getting somewhere."

"Good."

"So, dinner. Tonight? Say 9.30? I'm on at the beginning of the show so I should be free by then."

"OK." She smiled up at him sweetly. "I'll look forward to it." She was doing anything but looking forward to it. Randy was a decent guy, good looking… everything a girl should want. Except when you were a girl who never would want to get involved with a wrestler again.

* * *

Laura was contemplating whether or not to go back to the hotel to get changed when her train of thought was derailed by a frantic Chris Jericho.

"Laura, we need your help babe. Randy's flipped."

"What? Where is he? What happened?"

Chris almost dragged her down the corridor, explaining on the way as much as he knew, "something's upset him… he was freaking out, throwing stuff about his locker room, screaming almost… I thought you might know what to do."

She nodded thoughtfully, waiting until they got outside Randy's locker room before speaking. She looked at the crowd of wrestlers now assembled and, seeing Shawn, called him over. Randy wouldn't want an audience, she was sure of that, so she quietly asked him to get rid of the others.

He nodded quickly, "what will you do?"

"I'll go in and talk to him." The answer seemed obvious to her.

"Not while he's angry and throwing stuff. Who knows what he'll do to you?" Jericho interrupted, not wanting Laura to put herself at risk.

"I'll be fine Chris. Help Shawn get the others out of here, please. I don't know what's gone on, but give me a chance to try and sort this out. He's not gonna hurt me, is he?"

The Canadian reluctantly agreed and carried out her request. Nervously, Laura knocked on the door and pushed her way in.

"Randy?"

She surveyed the chaos that greeted her. It seemed like the entire contents of Randy's gym bag had been thrown around the room, a chair was lying upside down on the floor, and Randy was sat on the floor, leaning against the back wall, his head in his hands.

He heard his name called out, but couldn't react. He didn't want Laura of all people to see him like this. He felt ashamed of his outburst, hurt at what had happened, and like he'd been fighting a losing battle for so long he couldn't fight any more.

"Randy, love, what's happened?" Laura ran over to him and knelt at his side. She put a timid hand on his knee and squeezed it gently. "It's OK, whatever happened, it's OK."

He looked up, wiping at his face, trying to pretend that there had never been any tears falling from those blue eyes. He saw the concern on Laura's face and it confused him. Why was she here? Why did she care?

"Wanna tell me what happened?"

He sighed and rubbed his head. "I'm never gonna have people trust me again, am I? No matter what I do, I'll always be the one who did all that stuff to the girls… Acceptance is something I'll never have."

"Why? I thought you were getting somewhere."

"So did I. But apparently not. All I did…Maria was just finishing taping an interview… she started coughing a little, so I offered to get her some water…" He rubbed his eyes again, obviously upset by what he was about to say. "She refused… said that she wouldn't take anything off me… as I might have put a date-rape drug in it… fuck I know I've done some stupid stuff, but I'm not a rapist. I'd never do that… it just proves to me that I'll never have people trust me again. She has such a low fucking opinion of me she actually thinks I'd do that."

Silently Laura cursed Maria. The girl was nice, but dumb as hell. She probably wouldn't even have thought about what she was saying.

"How can people think I'd do that? I mean… I've been an idiot, but shit… rape… I'd never do that."

"You know Maria, Randy. I don't even think she has a brain to engage before she opens her mouth." Laura smiled slightly, relieved when Randy met her smile. "Did this feel like the last straw?" He nodded. "Well it's not, it's just her being stupid. I trust you, Christy's starting to trust you again, and the others. I told Christy that you wrote to Amy to apologise, she really respected that. You're getting there, don't give up now."

"Really?"

"We all know you'd never do anything like that, honestly we do. Would I be alone with you if I thought that you were a rapist?"

"Well… I guess."

"More to the point, do you think Chris and Hunter would let you give me the time of day if they thought you were capable of anything like that?"

He almost grinned. "True. She still thought it though."

"She barely has a coherent thought in her head Randy. She probably read something about date rape in a magazine and it was the first thought she had in her head, not necessarily that you would actually do it."

"You reckon?"

"Yeah." She put her arms out and pulled him into a hug, rubbing his back tenderly. "Ah, Randy, if they could see this side of you, they'd trust you again in a second. You're not as tough as you make out, and that's no bad thing."

Randy laughed slightly, "I wouldn't want anyone seeing me like this… crying and shit… I feel bad enough that you had to witness me having a hissy fit."

"It's what I'm here for." She pulled away and sat back, " you're a sweet guy Randy, I know that. I'm hardly gonna run away because you showed that you're a sensitive guy."

"Thank you."

She decided to lighten the mood. "Still up for going out tonight? How about we go and get mindlessly drunk and forget all of this."

"You're sure? I should have been taking you out for a nice meal."

"We can do that. With lots of beer to cheer you up." She stood up and held out her hand. "Come on, first drink's on me."

He took her hand and got to his feet. She grinned and looked around.

"Reckon you should clear all your shit up before we go?"

He looked around guiltily and nodded.

"Tell you what, you go and wash your face, freshen up, I'll tidy up in here."

"Thanks Laura. Don't know what I'd do without you."


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Solving Problems (7?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?  
A/N: Well, thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate them! I'm really enjoying writing this, partly because I'm writing it for different reasons than I usually write for. This is pure escapism, pure entertainment. It's not about me improving my writing or looking carefully at character development and the usual things that I worry about when I write slash. It's just fun. I can also include a few plots that I've been dying to use but that don't fit in with my slash fics, which I hope you'll all enjoy! For anyone who's interested, the whole draft thing kind of messed up my plans for the Taking Chances, but I've pretty much worked out where I'm going with that now. Hope to have something written by next week. I've got enough of this fic done to keep posting for a while, so it's not going to be so bad if I have to put it on the back burner for a bit.

Randy was full of surprises. He was a perfect gentleman, and Laura found herself really having a good time. Randy was very open with her about many things, and she found herself opening up to him a lot too, a lot more than she had with anyone else in a long time.

She could see that he was dying to ask her something, and guessed what it was.

"You can ask me about Jeff if you want. It's OK."

"You're sure?" Chris had made it pretty clear to Randy that he shouldn't go there with Laura, that it was a dark time that no one wanted to talk about. He was surprised at how perceptive she was about his thoughts, and how well she could read him.

"Yeah. I know Chris probably warned you off mentioning it, but I don't mind. I'd rather you hear the truth from me than gossip from someone else." She did look uncomfortable though, despite the even tone of her words.

Randy took a drink and watched Laura's body language. She was nervous, concerned, a little scared, he thought. Slowly and carefully he touched her hand, giving it a little squeeze. She rewarded him with a huge smile, and began to speak.

"He wasn't using drugs when we first met. He was a really nice guy… I was crazy about him. He only started using after he got a shoulder injury - the pain pills the hospital gave him didn't really work. At first, I didn't really know, or if I did I wilfully ignored it. Then his personality changed, he started threatening me. He blamed me, I think, or I was an easy target, I'm not sure. Anyway, one night, Chris and Hunter heard me screaming, and managed to get into our room. Jeff was trying to throw me off the balcony… I think he was hallucinating or something. Hunter managed to restrain him while Chris got me out of there. I left the next day. Jeff was fired soon after."

"Jesus." Randy took hold of her hand now and stroked it tenderly. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault. Not anyone's fault really," she shrugged.

Randy seemed to be considering something, debating within himself whether to ask the question.

"Go on," Laura prompted him to ask what was on his mind.

"When he did that to you… it wasn't the first time he'd been physically aggressive towards you, was it?"

She looked away. No one had talked to her about the relationship after what had happened. Either they were scared to bring up bad memories for her, or they thought that it had been a one off.

"No one's asked you that before, have they?"

"They didn't want to hurt me. Or they didn't know. I think they all thought it was a one off thing. I don't think that anyone would have believed that I could stay in a relationship like that. I'm supposed to be smart."

"How long was he hurting you for?"

"Too long." She looked away, this was going farther than she was ready for.

"I won't pry any further if it's upsetting for you." Leaning over, Randy wiped a tear from her cheek. "If you do ever need anyone to talk to though…"

"Thanks." It was touching for Laura to have someone concerned for her, and ready to listen. Usually, she was the one doing that for others. "I appreciate it, really do." She took a deep breath to calm herself and smiled brightly. "Hey, we're out to cheer you up, no need to be talking about me. Lets get another drink and talk about something more cheerful."

"Why not." He knew now wasn't the time to take this any further. "Lets get very drunk."

* * *

They were both extremely drunk when they got back to the hotel, hanging off each other, laughing and joking. They'd had fun, despite everything.

"Thank you Laura sweetheart, that was exactly what I needed," Randy smiled and kissed her cheek affectionately.

"Me too, I had a really good night," she hugged him tightly.

"Want to come for one last beer?"

"Why the hell not?" She didn't fully appreciate the implications of what she was doing, and neither, at that point, did Randy. It only became clear as they both lay on Randy's bed watching late night TV. Suddenly, both were very much sober and very much embarrassed.

Randy turned to Laura and bit his lower lip; suddenly both of them could feel the tension between them. Laura took a deep breath, unsure who would make the first move.

"You're incredible," Randy whispered, leaning forward to capture Laura's lips. She didn't resist. She'd been trying to fight her feelings, but she'd been wanting this, wanting Randy, for a while now. She knew she shouldn't, but tonight had just magnified her feelings for this man. He wasn't Jeff and he wouldn't hurt her. All she had to do is remember that.

* * *

Laura wasn't quite sure where she was when she woke up. Her mouth felt like the bottom of a birdcage, her head, while not exactly pounding, was sore, and there was an arm around her waist.

It was that third thing that freaked her out. That third thing that reminded her of exactly what happened last night.

"Randy?"

His eyes opened slowly, and she could see the same realisations coming to him.

"Laura, hey babe." His voice was croaky.

She didn't speak, she didn't know what to say. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

Randy got out of bed and walked over to his bag, grabbing out of it a bottle of water and some aspirin. He returned to Laura and sat next to her, handing her the bottle and a couple of pills. "Here, I know I need these, I'm guessing you will too."

She nodded gratefully, taking the pills and a sip of the water, then handing the bottle back to him. He did the same.

"Do you regret last night?" His question was soft, hopeful, but not accusing.

Laura wanted to say 'yes, it should never have happened', but she'd by lying to herself, and worse, lying to Randy. "No."

"Me neither." The relief flooded over his face. "I know… I know this is not how… this is…" he was getting tongue-tied and frustrated, "ah fuck. Laura, I wanna be with you. You're incredible… I've been having feelings for you since we first met, I was scared to tell you, especially with Chris and Hunter so protective… you're amazing though, you're all I've ever wanted."

"The last thing I wanted when I came back here," her voice was low, and wavering, "was to hook up with a wrestler. I couldn't… I was scared of putting myself through that again. I tried to keep things platonic with you, I tried to pretend that I didn't have feelings, but…" she rested her head in her hands.

"You do have feelings for me?" There was no cockiness in his statement; just concern, and a little bit of fear.

"Yeah."

He pulled her close, "I would never hurt you babe, I promise. I'm not him. I grew up in this business, I've seen the pain that drug abuse brings. I promise you that's one road I'm never going to travel."

She slowly allowed herself to be enveloped by his arms. He was whispering sweet words into her hair, inhaling her scent. She felt like she was in the right place, but she was scared too. She hoped that Randy would be worth the risks she'd be taking. She hoped that she would be worthy of him.


	8. Chapter 8

Title: Solving Problems (8?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?  
A/N: Thanks for the reviews once again. Coors1977, especially thanks to you, your reviews always give me food for thought, and I'm finding myself learning from this fic some interesting things about my writing. You are right, there wasn't as much tension/build up to the relationship as there should have been, pure oversight on my part. I do have many, many plans for this, there will be much sappiness but it isn't all going to be sweetness and light!

"I guess I should go talk to Chris and Hunter."

Randy looked up and saw what might have been fear cross Laura's face. "Babe, you don't have to be scared of them, you know that, right?"

"I know. I'm not, really." She came to sit down next to him, smiling as he wrapped his arms around her. This felt really good, it felt right. "It's just, they worry about me. They've been good to me… I can't really explain why I'm so apprehensive about telling them."

Randy's face fell. "If they have any reason to be angry, it's because of me. After everything I've done, I wouldn't blame them for not trusting me, especially with someone as precious as you."

"Aw you say the sweetest things." She kissed him shyly, "and I guess I'll just tell them to trust my judgement. I know you're going to be good for me."

"Thank you." He looked at his watch, "I should be going to the gym really. I hardly feel like it though."

"How about you do an hour or so, and I'll meet you back here later."

"Sounds good to me."

"I'd best go and face the two terrors then."

"Good luck sweetheart." They kissed, and reluctantly Laura left his arms. This most probably wouldn't be pretty.

* * *

"You did what?" Jericho stared at Laura in disbelief, "babe, please tell me you're kidding."

She shook her head. "We have real feelings for each other Chris. I know, after everything, that I should be running away, but I can't."

"Where the fuck did this come from? Since when did you have feelings for him?"

"I've always been able to hide stuff from you Chris, you should know that by now."

Chris conceded that point. He wasn't going to let this lie though. "After everything he did to the other girls…"

"You said yourself that he's trying to atone for that," she interrupted. " I trust him Chris, I hope that you will too. For me."

"What about yesterday? He was freaking out, he was aggressive, if he can get like that I don't want him near you."

"He was upset. Maria more or less accused him of trying to put a date-rape drug in her drink."

Chris looked surprised, "shit that's harsh."

"It really upset him. He's been making such a big effort… he even wrote to Amy Weber to apologise."

He nodded reluctantly, "have you told Hunter yet?"

She shook her head, "I couldn't find him. I will do though. I guess everyone will know soon."

"The other girls won't be happy."

"I know. It makes my position difficult. I'm unsure of what to do there."

"Talk to Steph, she's the boss."

Laura nodded, sighing. She felt like she should be on top of the world right now, but everything was an obstacle to be overcome, a struggle, a difficulty.

"Be happy for me Chris, please? He makes me feel special."

Her tone was almost desolate, and it melted Chris' resolve, "If he makes you happy babe, then I'm OK with it. If he hurts you, I'll kill him. I won't sit by and see you hurt again."

* * *

Surprisingly, Steph was delighted to hear about Laura and Randy. Maybe her pregnancy had mellowed her, but she just accepted it without a worry. She knew one thing for sure: it had been a long time since she'd seen Laura look so happy, and if Randy was the cause of that, then she would gladly accept that.

Hunter was also surprisingly happy. For Randy's part, he knew that Laura would be good for him. As he'd worked with the young man a lot since he'd come into the WWE, he knew that he was fundamentally a good guy. He was rash, impulsive and emotional, but his heart was mostly in the right place. He hoped that Randy would care for Laura as much as she needed: he guessed that he would, if the way they were with each other was any indication.

Laura was concerned about how this would affect her position. She explained her feelings to Steph, as the older woman didn't see the problem.

"I'm supposed to be neutral, to help people see their problems clearly, and how can people have any trust in me to do that fairly when I'm involved with someone. You know that this company runs on factions and friendships, so whatever the problem, I'll be involved in some way, and that's not fair."

Steph nodded thoughtfully, she could see where Laura was coming from. Workplace politics were always complicated, especially in a business with as many egos and backstabbers as this one.

Laura continued, "I'd like to continue travelling with you, at least for now. I have two months before publication. Once the book's out I'll have to do promotions and stuff, but until then I'd like to remain here. The trouble is, I wouldn't feel right allowing you to pay for me, if I couldn't really do what I set out to do."

"I want you to stay around too." Steph patted her stomach, "we're gonna tell everyone about the baby next week, I want you around for that. I would feel bad if you paid for everything yourself. Not least because there will still be people here who will need your help. Christy has really benefited from your help, and Lita has been coping with all the shit Edge has thrown at her only because of you. Can we come to some sort of compromise?"

"OK." It seemed fair enough. "So, three months already?"

Steph nodded, a beautiful smile on her face. "I can't believe it finally happened. I've shopped for so much stuff already, but then I feel like I might be jinxing it, you know? We're just so excited."

"I'm excited for you both. I know people think Hunter's a big tough guy, but he's gonna make such a fantastic dad."

"I know," Steph sighed in contentment, "I see how good he is with Shawn's kids, and Chris', and Benoit's and it just melts my heart."

"Appearances can be deceiving and all that."

Steph looked at Laura carefully, she was happy, there was no doubt about that, but there was something else, something that worried the older woman. "What are you scared of Laura?"

The young brunette looked up, surprised at her friend being able to read her so well. Trouble was, she didn't really know the answer to the question herself. She tried to explain it as best she could. "Why's he really with me, Steph? He could have any of the girls here, any supermodel or actress he wanted. Why me?"

"Because you're you." Steph knew that her friend had low self esteem, and had guessed that Jeff had been hurting her mentally long before he'd tried to hurt her physically. She hated to see her look down on herself like she did. "You're gorgeous sweetie, and sexy, and kind, and generous. I know that Jeff told you a lot of stuff about yourself that wasn't true." When Laura looked up, shocked, Steph just smiled sympathetically, "I guessed… you used to be so confident, and then became less so. When he tried to hurt you I realised that he'd already been upsetting you for a long time before that. Sweetie, Randy wouldn't be with you unless he thought you were the most amazing girl in the world."

"I just keep thinking that he'll wake up one morning and realise that he could do better."

"He couldn't. I know you're not perfect babe, none of us are. I do think that you're perfect for Randy though."

"Thanks." Laura broke into a genuine smile at last. "I needed to hear that."

* * *

Chris Jericho walked into Randy's locker room without knocking. He wanted to talk to the younger man and he wanted to make a few things clear.

"Chris, hi." Randy knew why he was there, it was obvious. He'd been preparing himself for it all day.

"I thought I told you to stay away from Laura."

"Yeah, I know and I tried. Then I realised how special she was. When she was helping me with everything, trying to make amends, I just ended up falling for her. I know you're protective of her and everything but I can't help how I feel. She's incredible, I think we can be really good for each other, and I want to make her happy. I know she went through a lot of shit and I have no intention of hurting her in any way. I also know that I've fucked up in the past, but if Laura can see past that I hope you can too." Randy's words touched Chris, the young man rarely articulated his feelings so clearly.

"Randy, I'm gonna keep this very short and very simple. If you hurt Laura in any way, I will hurt you. You treat her badly, and your career will be over. Do I make myself clear?"

Randy nodded mildly, he had no wish to raise the Canadian's ire.

"Good." Chris' face broke into a big grin. Well now the threats are out of the way, let me say congratulations. Fresh start for both of you, yeah?"

Randy nodded, relief evident in his demeanour, "thanks man, that means a lot coming from you."


	9. Chapter 9

Title: Solving Problems (9?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?  
A/N: Thanks once again for all the reviews. All concrit is welcome, I'm not going to run off screaming if you say something negative grins. These next few chapters will be somewhat saccarine, but don't fear, I'm going my contrary way towards drama, angst and excitement.

Laura couldn't believe how easily everyone had accepted her getting with Randy. She knew people were gossiping behind her back, but in a way she felt that was a good thing, as previous gossip, about Lita and Edge, was now forgotten, for now at least. The other girls were wary, but when they saw how happy she was, they pretty much accepted it straight away. An added bonus was that as they saw Randy treating her with respect, they learned to trust him again. The girls had bonded too, finally realising that Christy worked as hard as the rest of them and deserved their respect. They all finally realised that they were all in the same boat, and the support that Christy had been lending Lita hadn't gone unnoticed.

For the most part, the WWE was mostly back on an even keel. There were still a few problems, namely Edge, and Batista, but they in themselves weren't enough to cause a major schism or issue. Mostly because Edge was so over the top in his behaviour no one took him seriously, and Batista was so subtle that most people didn't notice.

Laura noticed that Batista wasn't happy though. She'd seen the changes in his demeanour after Hunter and Steph had announced they were having a baby, the sadness in his eyes. She wanted to talk to him, but he seemed so unapproachable she never really got the chance. She hoped that someone would talk to him, as it wasn't good to see the dark shadows beneath the champion's eyes, the lethargy in his demeanour. People didn't notice it now, but they would soon.

Laura also couldn't believe how good life with Randy was. It had been a month now, and it wasn't just the big things that made her happy, like waking up next to him, it was the little things too: sharing jokes, finding out that Randy was a closet Fozzy fan, the little things that made life so special. The things that, when you were on your own, you didn't realised that you missed.

Randy's career was going well too, he was in the main event of that night's Pay Per View, in a cage match against Chris Jericho. Laura had been around wrestling long enough to know the risks and dangers of each type of match, but knew that Randy and Chris would put on a fantastic show but not go too crazy. She still worried about both of them though, as anything could go wrong.

"Be careful love," she kissed Randy gently and massaged his shoulders. He always got pumped before a match, and Laura had proved surprisingly adept at keeping him calm.

"Always babe," he took one of her hands and kissed the palm, "don't worry about me. It's Chris you have to worry about, I'm gonna kick his ass."

She giggled, "I know you will. Wanna go out to celebrate afterwards?"

"You're that sure I'm gonna win?"

"Of course. I love Chris, but he's got nothing on you."

At that point Chris walked over. He'd heard the end of the conversation, and mocked pouting, "girl, you used to have faith in me."

"I do. My boy's just younger and stronger is all."

Chris looked at Randy, "she used to be my biggest fan you know."

"And now she's mine." There was no malice in any of the words, it was all gentle banter, but Laura really felt important when Randy put his arm around her like he did just then.

"Be safe, both of you," the young brunette kissed Chris' cheek affectionately, and then turned to her boyfriend, "Good luck babe."

"Thank you. Are you watching the show with Hunt and Steph?"

"Yeah, I should get over there now." Reluctantly she tore herself away from her man, and made her way over to sit with the happy couple.

* * *

The match was brutal. Laura spent most of it hiding her eyes, with Steph describing what was going on. Hunter laughed at the girls, in between making notes on Randy's technique and execution of several moves. He had always been able to see real talent in the young man, and although there had been a time when Randy thought he knew it all, he was now more than willing to accept Hunter's tuition and help.

The rules of the match were simple, first one out of the cage was the winner. Randy had climbed the cage about half way, before Chris pulled him backwards and he fell heavily onto the floor. Laura cringed, it had sounded painful. The next time she looked up Chris was mashing Randy's face into the cage, and there was blood everywhere.

"Don't worry babe, I think half that blood is Chris'," Steph reassured her, although that in itself was hardly a reassurance.

"I hate it when they hurt themselves like that."

Hunter looked over to Laura, "he'll be OK, look's like he's about to win anyway." She looked at the monitor to see him RKO Chris for the second time, and then slide out of the cage door, arms raised in victory.

She allowed a smile to flash across her face. He was OK, at least, and he'd won again. Hunter was nodding approvingly.

"Are you letting him practice on you? He's getting better and better at executing some of those more difficult moves." He laughed as Laura blushed, "on second thoughts, don't answer that."

"I'm going to meet him back," Laura said to Steph, "I'll see you later, yeah?"

She rushed over to the entrance curtain, where Randy had just come through. He was limping a little, and immediately grabbed a towel to wipe the blood from his face.

"Hey Laura," he immediately spotted his girlfriend and limped over to her, "was I good?"

"You know you were. You OK love?"

He nodded, "I'm fine. My knee's a little sore, and my head hurts, but I'll live."

She looked at him with great concern, "there was a lot of blood, you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah. Should get to the trainer's office really, see if I need stitches."

"I'll meet you there, yeah? Just wanna see if Chris is OK."

"Sure, see you in a little while." He leaned down to kiss her, and then laughed, "I'd best not, don't want to mess up your face with all this blood."

"I don't care."

"I do. I'll make it up to you later, promise."

Chris was then helped through by a couple of referees, slumping into a waiting chair. Laura ran over and knelt down beside him. He looked at her through drowsy eyes. "Shouldn't you be with Randy?"

"I wanted to make sure that you were OK first, that was brutal."

"I'm fine. Your boyfriend's a talented guy."

"So are you. Sure you're OK? Want some help to the trainer's office?"

"I'll be fine babe. Honestly. You go see Randy, I'll catch up with you later."

She nodded and stood up. Suddenly, she felt a little dizzy. Chris noticed that something was wrong.

"Laura, honey, you alright?"

She blinked a few times and shook her head, "yeah, I'm fine, must have got up a bit too quickly."

"OK, well take care babe."

She walked slowly to the trainer's office, suddenly not feeling too great. It had been a long day, she reasoned, she was probably just tired. Trish had been suffering from flu last week, she'd probably caught that off her.

She knocked on the door of the trainer's office and walked in. Randy was just getting his head stitched up, while holding an ice pack to his knee. He was wincing as the needle went through his skin, but smiled as she made her way over to him.

She grinned at the trainer, "will he live?"

"If he stops fidgeting. Who'd have thought a big guy like this could be such a baby when it came to stitches."

Laura rolled her eyes, "aw bless."

Randy winced again as the trainer tied the final knot in the stitches. "There, all done. Keep ice on your knee for a while longer, and rest it tonight. Should be fine in the morning."

He nodded, then turned to Laura, "how's Chris?"

"He's fine, exhausted but OK." Suddenly, she felt herself blacking out again. She gripped hold of Randy but it was too late, and she collapsed onto the floor.

"Laura?" Ice and sore knee forgotten, he jumped down next to her. "Babe, shit, what's going on?"

The trainer helped him to pick her up and lay her onto the medical trolley. He checked her pulse, it was slow but steady. Slowly her eyes fluttered open.

"What happened?" She whispered, trying to sit up.

"Stay where you are angel, you collapsed."

She focussed on Randy, all at once hating herself for the pain etched on his face, "babe, I'm fine… I think I'm just coming down with flu or something."

The trainer shook his head, "Laura, your blood pressure is extremely low. You should go to hospital, get yourself checked out."

She went to shake her head, but Randy put his hand over hers, "you're going babe. I just paged Steph, she's on her way, she's gonna sit with you while I get changed, and then we're gonna take you to the hospital. No arguments."

"I'm sorry Randy."

"What for?" The young man caressed her cheek gently,

"For being trouble," she closed her eyes, worried and anxious.

"You're not trouble angel, I love you and I want you to be OK."

"You love me?" It was the first time Randy had said that to her.

"Yeah, I do."

Steph ran into the room, "Laura sweetie, what happened?" She ran to her friend's side. "Randy, is she OK?"

"She collapsed. We're gonna take her to the hospital, get her checked over. Stay with her while I go put some clothes on."

Steph nodded and Randy ran off, his bad knee forgotten now. She turned to her friend, "Laura, you should have said if you didn't feel well."

"I was fine… all of a sudden everything went black, next thing I know I'm here."

Randy was back in a couple of minutes, "I've thrown our stuff in the car, come on babe. Steph, will you tell Hunter and Chris? I'd guess they'll want to come check on Laura, if not I can call them later. You gonna ride with us?"

"They'll want to be there. I'll ride with them, you take care of her."

Randy nodded, and scooped up his girlfriend in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder. She didn't want any of this, she just wanted to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Title: Solving Problems (10?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?  
A/N: Aw man, we're going for obvious plot developments here, and sap, sap, and more sap. I will warn you now though, I am evil. Things might seem nice and sweet for the next few chapters, but beware, it won't last!

The doctors must have done every test known to man. She had more needle marks in her arms than a junkie, and was sore and tired. All she wanted was for Randy to take her back to the hotel and hold her in his arms until she fell asleep.

Randy hadn't left her side. He was quiet, concerned, looking up hopefully every time a doctor or nurse came in. She'd really scared him, Laura had never shown any sign of being ill, and the thought that something might be seriously wrong scared the hell out of him.

Yet another doctor came into the room. He didn't have any medical equipment with him so Randy took that as a good sign that he might have some news. Sure enough, he pulled up a chair next to the bed and looked at Laura.

"Miss Jones? We've carried out several tests to determine what caused you to collapse, and a few precautionary tests to make sure that everything is ok."

She looked at Randy in concern. Precautionary tests? On what?

The doctor continued, "the reason you collapsed is due to extremely low blood pressure. We're not sure why your blood pressure fell so low, but we did discover a possible reason. You're pregnant, Miss Jones."

Laura looked at the doctor in shock. She couldn't be. Then the thing that the doctor said about precautionary tests came back into her head.

"Is the baby ok?" Her voice was shaky, and she didn't even dare look at Randy right now. Would he be angry, upset, happy?

"From the tests we've done, yes, as far as we can tell." He nodded at Randy, "just as long as you take it easy, you can go home. Your own doctor will need to keep an eye on you because of this. Do you have any questions?"

She shook her head, unable to speak.

"OK, well, your papers will be at reception when you're ready to go."

After he left the room Laura put her head in her hands and started crying softly. She was still too scared to look at Randy.

"How did this happen babe?" He brushed her hair away from her face and forced her to look at him. "We've always been careful, right?"

She nodded, and then realisation hit her. "Not… not the first night we weren't."

Randy went pale, as he remembered that night. They were both too drunk, the thought of contraception hadn't even crossed their minds.

"Shit." Randy was trying to process all this, trying to take in the fact that he was going to be a father, but he couldn't, nothing made sense to him. Suddenly he felt extremely claustrophobic and needed to get out of there. "I need some air… I won't be long." He nearly ran out of there.

Laura burst into tears again. She couldn't believe how stupid she was. He was too young to want kids, it was too soon, she wasn't ready, he'd blame her; a thousand thoughts went through her head, none of them good. She needed him right now, she needed him to hold her and tell her everything was going to be OK.

Chris had seen Randy run out of the room looking upset, and was obviously concerned. He was even more so when he walked in to see Laura sobbing her heart out.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" he was terrified that it was something serious. He sat down on the edge of the bed and took her into his arms. "What is it?"

"Oh Chris, I'm so fucking stupid," she sobbed into his shirt. "I've messed everything up. I'm fucking pregnant and now Randy doesn't want me any more."

"Oh Laura," Chris' first instinct was to go and find the young man and beat the hell out of him. However, Laura was in such a state he didn't want to leave her alone. "Babe, it's ok, it'll be ok. Maybe he's just shocked." He wasn't quite sure why he was defending Randy, but he just wanted to make Laura feel better.

"Fucking hell Chris, how do I always get into these messes?"

He didn't know what to say, so he just held her more tightly. He was going to kill Randy for hurting her like this. She was sobbing and crying; he hadn't seen her in this state since the night Jeff had tried to kill her, and it frightened him.

* * *

Hunter had seen Randy run out of the room, and followed him. He was scared, whatever happened to Laura must be really bad for Randy to run out of the room like that. He eventually found him outside the hospital, sat on a bench left as a memorial to a 'long-serving member of staff', as the inscription said. Randy was pale, his fists were clenched and he was staring into space, seemingly lost in another world.

Hunter sat down next to him, close, but not invading his personal space. Randy vaguely acknowledged his presence, so Hunter felt like it was OK to speak.

"You OK, man?"

Randy looked surprised. He had expected the older man to ask about Laura. He shook his head.

"What is it?"

"Laura's pregnant." Randy took a deep breath and squeezed his fists even tighter. "We'd been careful, it was the first night that it must have happened."

"Shit." Hunter knew how he felt, when he and Steph had first started talking about having children, he'd been scared. Poor Randy had to deal with this with no preparation whatsoever. He'd only been dating Laura for a month. "Scared, huh?"

"I'm only 25. Laura's only 25. This isn't supposed to happen now. I don't know anything about kids. Yes, Hunter, I'm scared. I'm terrified."

"I guess it's too early to talk about what you'll do."

Randy nodded, "this is all wrong. I was so scared when Laura collapsed, I was scared of losing her… I told her that I loved her. I've never told her that before, but I do. I should be there now, looking after her, but this all just scared me. I had to get away, to think about it."

"And?"

"I don't fucking know."

"Do you love her?"

"Of course I do." Randy looked up, surprised that Hunter would ask that.

"So… you're here. She's upstairs, alone, probably terrified. She probably thinks you hate her. Why aren't you there with her? It's not just about you Randy, and if you want to keep her you need to show her that you love her, no matter what you two decide to do." Hunter didn't know if he was doing the right thing saying this, Laura was always better at helping people. She was the one that needed support right now though.

"I know. Fuck, I left her alone." As if the realisation had suddenly come to him, he ran back towards the hospital.

* * *

Laura's sobs had barely subsided when Randy returned. Chris was still holding her tightly, and he looked up at the young man in disgust.

"You've got a nerve."

Laura looked up to see who Chris was talking to. "Randy?"

"Babe." He walked over to the opposite side of the bed and sat down. "I'm sorry for running out on you." Chris was still staring daggers at him, so he continued, feeling the need to explain himself. "I was scared, I needed time to think, I needed to get my head around this. I'm sorry for leaving you alone. I was selfish, I never meant to hurt you."

More tears fell down her face, and she extracted herself from Chris' arms to fall into Randy's. She buried her head in his shoulder and held him tightly, lest he should run away again. He cuddled her close, hating himself for leaving her in this state. No matter what happened, he wouldn't do that again.

She eventually calmed herself enough to speak properly, "What are we gonna do babe?"

He stared at her, hating himself for causing those tears, "right now, I'm gonna take you back to the hotel, you need to sleep. We can talk tomorrow."

She nodded, too weary to argue. Chris however, was still angry, "I shouldn't let you take her anywhere after you left her like this. Are you gonna leave her again?"

"No. I am so sorry for running out on you sweetheart," he hardly acknowledged Chris, focusing instead on his girlfriend, "I love you so much and I know we need to talk but I promise you I'm not leaving. Never again."

"Promise?"

"Yeah. Let's get out of here."


	11. Chapter 11

Title: Solving Problems (11?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in this site's parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?  
A/N: This is all cute and fluffy. For now!

Randy insisted on carrying Laura from the car to their hotel room. She was too tired to argue much. Chris had driven them back, still furious at Randy and reluctant to leave Laura alone with him. He accompanied them up to their room, helping Randy with the bags. Tenderly, Randy lay his girlfriend on the bed, dropping a kiss on her forehead, before leaving and going to talk to Chris.

"Look man, I know you're angry at me, but I swear to god I won't leave her."

"It's too late for that Randy. She was breaking her heart when I went in to her. I haven't seen her that upset since that day with Jeff. She's a strong person, it takes a hell of a lot of hurt to reduce her to that. You told me you wouldn't hurt her. You fucking lied to me, and worse, you fucking hurt her. The only reason I'm not kicking your ass right now is because I know that she needs you. She believes she needs you, at least. I think she'd be better off without you, but I'll go with her wishes for now. You're on your final warning though." Chris' protective streak was to the fore here. There was also a fair amount of guilt in his words, feeling like he'd let her down again.

"I understand." Finding out how upset Laura had been had really shaken Randy to his core, "I know I fucked up. I know I hurt her and believe me, I will never forgive myself for that. Thank you for being there for her."

"She's special Randy. Do not fuck this up. No matter what you two decide to do, do not hurt her."

Randy nodded and walked back into the room, locking the door behind him. He made his way over to the bed, hoping that Laura would forgive him. He didn't deserve it, but he hoped that she would.

"Babe?" Her voice was still sore from crying so much, "come and hold me please?"

He nodded and quickly stripped off. While he'd been talking to Chris she'd got undressed and into bed, and he slipped in beside her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close.

"I'm sorry angel. I never meant to hurt you."

"I know." She looked up and caressed his cheek softly. "I can understand why you ran off. I would have too if I hadn't been hooked up to monitors and stuff."

"I just didn't know how to handle it."

"I was scared that you didn't want me any more. That you hated me, thought I was trapping you or something."

"Baby, none of those things crossed my mind. I was just… shocked."

"So what will we do?" Laura knew what she wanted, but she wasn't sure what Randy would want. They'd hardly been seeing each other for very long.

"What do you want?" Randy didn't believe in abortion, but if that was what she wanted he would accept it. He was scared shitless about the fact that he could become a father, but he didn't like any of the other options.

"I… I can't have an abortion Randy. I'd never forgive myself. I'll understand if you don't want to bring up a kid, I'll manage on my own, I wouldn't expect anything from you…"

He stemmed her words with a kiss, "Laura, whatever you decide I'll support you. I don't want you to have an abortion. I'm scared shitless, but I'll be there for you, and our baby."

Her face dissolved into tears again, she could hardly believe it, "honestly? I was so scared Randy, I fucked up so badly…"

"It took two of us honey. Both of us are to blame for this," Randy stroked her hair reassuringly, "it's happened now, we just need to talk things through in the morning, work out what we'll do now. I promise you though, I'm going nowhere, and you don't have to go through any of this on your own. We'll work things out babe, I promise. I love you."

She smiled, "you know, today is the first day you told me you love me."

"I was so scared of losing you, when you collapsed, I was terrified… if I didn't realise before, I did then."

"Love you too babe," Laura closed her eyes and snuggled closer.

She slept a little less scared about what the future might bring.

* * *

Laura awoke to the smell of coffee. Her head hurt a little from crying so much last night, and her arms were sore from all the tests she had done, but apart from that she didn't feel too bad. 

"Morning sweetheart," Randy walked over with a cup of coffee, setting it on the bedside table. She sat up and stared at him. He sat down on the edge of the bed and kissed her, grinning at the bemusement on her face.

"Why are you up so early?" Randy usually had to be dragged out of bed.

He shrugged, "dunno. Just woke up and thought I'd make some coffee. I guessed you'd wake up soon so I thought I'd make you some."

"You're sweet."

"I try," he bit his lip, "how're you feeling?"

"I'm ok, sore but ok," instinctively she touched her stomach, "how's your head and your knee?"

Randy had almost forgotten about the injuries he'd sustained last night, so evidently they weren't bothering him too much, "I'm good."

"We need to talk."

He nodded. Fact was, he hadn't slept most of the night, thinking about what was going on, what they would do, practical stuff like where they would live. The more he thought about it, the more he was surprised that the thought of a baby and being with Laura all the time didn't freak him out at all. He'd always valued his freedom: his spell in military jail had taught him to do that. The surprising thing about life with Laura was that because he knew she valued it too, she'd understand how he felt, and maybe his freedom wouldn't be compromised as much as he first feared.

"You're sure you're ok with this, you can still back out…" Laura didn't want him staying with her out of pity. "I'll understand."

"I'm going nowhere babe." In one way he was hurt by her doubting him, but in another touched that she'd give him freedom, even though that would leave her struggling. "I love you. And the baby. I'm starting to get my head around it now. I'm still a little bit scared though." His voice fell low with that last statement. It wasn't easy for him to express weakness.

"I'm terrified," she admitted. "I'd always thought that I'd have kids one day, but… I thought it would be planned, you know? That I'd have chance to get my head around it."

"Well, we've got eight months I suppose," Randy smiled, and she met his amused eyes and smiled also. "I know it's sudden and everything, but we've got to think about practical stuff. Like where we'll live and everything."

She nodded, surprised at Randy, he'd never seemed particularly organised or practical before.

He continued, "what I'm trying to say is, I'd really like it if you'd consider moving in with me. I know that you need to be in New York with your work sometimes, but I'd be so happy if you'd move down to St. Louis."

She was touched, and a few tears glittered in her eyes, "I guess I could keep my apartment in New York, just use it when I need to be there for work… I've never been to St. Louis, but if it's where you are… I'd love to move in with you." Laura knew she was taking a big risk here, agreeing to move to a place she'd never been to, in with a man she'd known for barely three months. In fact, she thought that everyone else would think she was crazy. She probably was, but she also figured that on a practical level, it made sense. If they were going to try to make it work, it would have to come sooner or later. Sooner just meant that they both had more time to adjust. Things would be crazy enough when the baby came, so getting this part out of the way seemed a sensible move. "Are you sure it's what you want?" Laura was still unsure about Randy though, was he just suggesting this because he thought it was what he should do, or because it was what he wanted to do?

"I've been up most of the night thinking about it," Randy admitted. "I just want things to be right… I guess we're rushing stuff a bit, but I know I'd have asked you to move in sooner or later. The more I think about it the more I want to live with you and the baby. I'd move to New York with you if you prefer. "

She shook her head, "I always said that if I were ever to have kids, I'd move away from there. My apartment is hardly in the nicest area of the city."

"Shall we go this weekend? You can see my house, meet my folks…" Randy didn't want for this to seem too full on, but he figured that it was hardly a normal situation.

"Yeah… when are you gonna tell them?" Laura was a little apprehensive, after all she'd not even met these people yet, and here she was, pregnant with their son's child. She knew Randy had a close relationship with both of them, and their reaction was another thing to be worried about.

"I think we'll wait till we get there."

"OK. I'd best call my agent, let him know what's going on."

They both lay back in bed, overwhelmed by everything that had suddenly changed in their lives.


	12. Chapter 12

Title: Solving Problems (12?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?

Laura was nervous about telling Chris what she and Randy had decided. He'd been so protective of her yesterday, and she was thankful for that, but the last thing she wanted was another fight. She knew Chris was looking out for her, that he felt guilty for not 'protecting' her from Jeff, but she just wished that he would trust her instincts for once.

As she'd expected, Chris exploded. Not when she told him that she was keeping the baby, but when she let slip the decision to move in with Randy.

"Are you fucking mental babe? You've been dating for what, a month now… you've never even been to St. Louis." Chris was pacing the floor in front of where Laura was sat. She couldn't bring herself to look at him, not ashamed of her decisions but too weary to fight with him over them.

"I'm having his child Chris."

"I know." His voice dropped and he took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down a little. He sat down next to Laura and put an arm around her. "I just worry about you. When he ran out on you yesterday, I was so angry… I hated seeing you so upset. What if he runs out on you again? What will you do?"

"I can't go through life thinking 'what if', I spent too long after Jeff trying to work out how things went wrong… not everything is within my control and I've accepted that. I have to take risks, otherwise I'll be scared and alone for the rest of my life." Although she'd taken the decision to move in with Randy quickly, it wasn't something she'd taken lightly. She knew the risks she was taking. "I'm not giving up everything for him. I'm keeping my apartment, and it's not like I can't work anywhere."

"Why now though? You've only been dating for a month or so."

"I'd have to do it sooner or later. We can't be a family living all those miles apart. Randy will be spending enough time away anyway, you know that."

"Does he want a family?" Chris asked carefully. He'd known Randy a lot longer than Laura had, and that didn't sound like the Randy he knew. The young man had been somewhat scarred by his military experiences, and it had seemed that he'd been making a concerted effort not to be tied down to anything, or anyone.

"He said he does. He's shocked about what happened, we both are. I gave him the opportunity to walk away, he said no. He's willing to try and make this work."

"I hope he does." Chris had his doubts, but he didn't want to upset Laura with them. She had always been stubborn, so there wouldn't be any chance of him changing her mind. He smiled at her sympathetically, "so you're gonna be a mommy, huh?"

She grinned and nodded, "it's still a bit surreal… but I'm starting to get my head around it. I always wanted kids… never guessed it would happen like this, but there you go. No matter what happens Chris, something good will come of this."

He agreed. Laura had always been able to make even the worst situation seem to have a silver lining.

* * *

There was one person that Laura was really concerned about telling. Lita.

Ever since she'd discovered that she had chlamydia, Lita had been dwelling on the illness, only too aware of the potential consequences. One of those potential consequences was infertility. It would be difficult to tell if the disease had affected her until she actually began trying for children. However, for someone who had always assumed that one day her life would include her own children, the realisation that the scenario may not be the case had really hit her hard.

Now Laura was pregnant, and she felt like her situation was like a slap in the face to her good friend. She wasn't sure of how to tell her, but wanted to tell her before she heard from gossips. She arranged to meet up with the redhead after the athlete had finished in the gym.

"Hey Laura, what happened to you last night babe? I heard they took you to the hospital." Lita sat down and drank about half of a bottle of water. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Laura bit her lip, nervous about telling Lita this. "I collapsed, my blood pressure fell low. They found out… they found out I'm pregnant."

"Congratulations babe." Lita enthusiastically hugged her friend. "Are you and Randy happy?"

"Yeah, we are." Laura smiled shyly, still worried about hurting her friend. "I was worried about telling you… especially because of everything we're talked about over the last few weeks. I was worried that you'd think I was rubbing it in your face or something."

"You're too sensitive sometimes, you know that?" Lita touched her friend's cheek affectionately. "I have to accept that I may never have children, but fortunately my best friend is having a baby that hopefully she'll let me spoil rotten." There was something behind her words, some kind of sadness and disappointment behind her words, but she chose to give a brave face for now.

"You're sure, sweetheart?" Laura knew that Lita was taking everything harder than she let on, but she also knew that as a private person, she wasn't quite ready to reveal her feelings and deal with everything yet.

"Yeah." Lita sighed. "So tell me everything. How this happened for a start, what Randy said… all the gory details!"

Laura laughed, "do I have to explain the birds and the bees to you?"

"Come on, the good stuff… tell me everything."

"Ah, ok." the brunette crossed her legs, getting comfortable. "We think it must have been the first night we got together… we were both drunk. We've been careful since, so it must have been then. I had no idea, not until they said at the hospital… oh god Li, I was so upset. I thought I'd fucked everything up big style. Randy… he ran off, he was… I'm not sure how he was feeling then, terrified probably, like I was. Chris was ready to kill him. But then he came back, and when we talked about it later, he said he'd stick by me, and he asked me to move in with him."

"He did what?" Lita screeched, "Laura babe, you're kidding me, right?"

"No. I said yes. I'm going to meet his parents this weekend."

"Wow, this is really serious, isn't it?" Lita looked concerned. "He'd best do what's right by you love, or I'll seriously hurt him."

"I think Chris has first options on that. He's worried about me… he doesn't trust Randy. I love that he's so concerned, but it does hurt that he won't trust my decisions. I know I'm taking a big risk but I feel like I have to. I love Randy, and I need to take risks or this won't work, no matter how hard we try."

"You love him?"

"Yeah, I do."

Lita hugged her friend again. "Do what you think is right babe. I know what it's like to lose the man you love, so do what's best for you, Randy and the baby. Take risks, but don't risk destroying what you have."


	13. Chapter 13

Title: Solving Problems (13?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?  
A/N: Thanks for the continuing reviews, they are much appreciated. Fluffiness ensues!

"Are you nervous?" There was amused laughter in Randy's voice. Laura had always seemed confident and self-assured, yet here she was, biting her lip and fidgeting in her seat. It was partly due to Randy's driving, which she always told him was too fast, but mostly because she was going to meet his parents for the first time. That, and, they were going to break the news about the baby.

She looked at him and grinned, "why would I be nervous, I'm only the slut who conned their son into fathering her child, right?" She forced lightness into her voice, although there was a wavering in it that Randy immediately picked up on. He slowed down and pulled over.

"Laura, sweetie don't talk about yourself like that. I know you're just joking with me but honestly, I don't like hearing you put yourself down like that. They will love you darling, I do."

She sighed, no matter how often Randy told her this it was still hard to believe. "I'm nervous babe, I want them to like me and I don't want them to be angry. I don't want to come between you and them. "

"I know and you won't. My mom will probably be shocked, but she'll just have to deal with it. Let's just get this over with, then I'll take you home and I'll show you round." They'd decided to go straight to Randy's parents before going to his house. Randy's mom had pretty much demanded that he do that anyway, as she was impatient to meet the girl he'd been talking about for the last few months or so.

They got there about ten minutes later and Randy's mom was waiting to meet them. Laura laughed as she ran over to the car to give her son a big hug; she'd always had a suspicion that he was a secret mommy's boy. She stepped out of the car and walked round to be next to her boyfriend. Randy's mom let go of her son and grinned broadly, "you must be Laura, it's so nice to meet you at last." Laura too received an enthusiastic hug, "come on in, Bob'll be here in a few minutes."

Randy took Laura's hand as they followed his mom into the house. Truth be told, he was a little nervous too. He groaned when he saw that his mom had got her photo albums out. She always did this, delighting in showing people Randy's baby pictures.

A couple of minutes later Randy's dad arrived, carrying a small bag of groceries. He dropped them on the kitchen table and walked straight over to Laura, "nice to meet you, so you're the girl that's got young Randy back on the straight and narrow, are you?"

"Dad!" Randy looked shocked that his father should seemingly know about what had happened.

"I still talk to people in the business you know, I know exactly what you've been up to. And I've heard all about how this young lady has turned you round." He shook his head at his son and turned to Laura again, "thank you for sorting him out, I thought I'd have to come over there and kick his ass myself."

Randy's mom shook her head, "so who wants a drink?" She wanted to find out all about Laura and all about what her son had been doing these last few weeks.

"Mom, sit down, we need to talk." Randy's voice was serious, and, Laura noted, a little nervous too. "We've got something to tell you."

Elaine wasn't stupid, she guessed straight away from the tone of Randy's voice what was coming next. "Laura's pregnant isn't she?"

Randy nodded, suddenly feeling like a young child who'd been discovered misbehaving.

"How far gone are you?"

"Only a month," Laura spoke quietly.

"I see." Elaine sat down, and motioned for Bob to do the same, so that they were all sat around the kitchen table.

"You're happy about this?" She addressed her son.

Randy looked at Laura and took her hand in his, "we are, yeah. It was a shock… especially the way we found out…"

Bob looked surprised, "what happened?"

"Laura's blood pressure fell very low, she collapsed after last week's Pay Per View. The hospital did loads of tests, and we found out. The baby's fine, but Laura has to be careful."

Elaine nodded thoughtfully, she was a nurse so she knew how frightening something like that could be to a previously fit person. "I'm glad that everything is OK, but…" she sighed, "Randy, didn't we teach you to be careful?"

"We were, mom… all except the one time." Randy was highly embarrassed at this conversation, "it's happened now though, and we're happy, and I hope you'll be happy for us too."

"We are," Bob put his hand over his wife's to ensure that she said nothing else, "if you're happy son… I know it's sudden, but if you're happy, we're happy."

"We are happy," Randy winked at Laura to reassure her a little, "Laura's gonna move in with me too. We'll keep her apartment in New York, but I want her living with me."

Elaine looked at her son with something akin to amusement in her eyes, "Randy, you've never done things by half, have you? You always have to be so forward, so quick to do everything."

"You know me mom."

The older lady looked at Laura, "you're ok with this?"

"Yeah… I didn't plan on having kids so young, but now it's happened I'm happy about it. I can work anywhere, so it's not a problem there, and I'd prefer not to bring up a child in a big city like New York, especially where my apartment is. It's kind of scary moving so far, though."

"Ah yes, Randy told us you were a novelist," Laura hadn't realised that Randy had talked on the phone about her so much, "I've read your first novel," Laura looked surprised, "I liked it."

"Laura's second book is out next month mom," Randy was pleased that his mom seemed to have softened somewhat after the shock, "and they're making a movie of the first one. She's been really successful."

Elaine's face finally broke into a smile, "it's good to know you're not after my son for his money. Laura, if you can get me an advance copy of your new book, I think you and me can get along really good. I'll be one up on the other girls at work." She laughed and Laura couldn't help but join in. It wasn't as bad as she'd feared. Randy's parents were really nice. They obviously cared about their son's welfare, and once they realised that she was with him for completely the right reasons, they were open and friendly with her.

When Elaine grabbed the photo albums Randy knew it was time to go. "Mom, you can show Laura those any other time, we need to shoot now. She hasn't even seen my place yet."

Laura was a little bit disappointed, but she was equally excited about seeing her new home.

"You take care kids," Bob hugged both of them, "Laura, you ever need anything, give us a call. Elaine's a nurse, so if you're ever worried about anything…"

She smiled gratefully, "thank you."

Randy's mom started talking about good pregnancy books, so he dragged Laura away before they got into conversation again. He wanted to take his girl to her new home.

Back in the car she looked at him and giggled, "I wanted to see baby photos of you."

"Oh you will do one day. Once you move down here mom will be round whenever you need her, and her and dad's door's always open."

She nodded, "that's good to know."

Randy only lived a couple of blocks away, so they were soon pulling up the driveway of his home. It looked nice from the outside. Randy couldn't wait to give her a guided tour.

Once he'd opened the front door, he turned around and scooped her up into his arms.

"I thought you were only supposed to be carrying me over the threshold if we were married?" She asked, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Or when you're carrying my baby," he whispered into her ear, "new tradition, I just started it. Welcome home baby."

She kissed him before looking around. First impressions told her it was typical Randy; not much by way of decorations, cds and magazines scattered around. "Do I get a guided tour?"

"Of course." He took her round the house, a little nervous all of a sudden. What if she didn't like it?

He didn't have to worry, as Laura was really happy just to be with him, to see this side of him. For a man who spent so much time travelling, she figured it must be nice just to be at home for a while. He did seem more relaxed, just by being there.

"This is our bedroom," she was touched that he should introduce it as 'ours', just as she had been when he'd said 'we' at his parents' place. Little things like that were important to her. The room didn't matter, it was her and Randy together, and that was what mattered. She was shocked by what he said next, "there's an en-suite bathroom through that door, and we could put another door in that wall through to the spare room for a nursery."

The fact that he'd planned this, thought about their future, brought her to tears. "Randy, you know something? You're the sweetest guy ever."

"I am?" he blushed, and looked away, "I was just thinking about making this place a real home, you know? You, me and the baby. I was never that bothered about this place before, it was just somewhere to sleep and chill out, you know. Now… I've got something to look forward to when I come home."

"I love you."

"Love you too."


	14. Chapter 14

Title: Solving Problems (14?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?

Laura's last day of travelling with the wrestlers soon came around. The publication of her book was now imminent, so she had to do lots of publicity interviews. The media were very interested in hearing from her because of the success of her first novel, so she had quite a busy schedule over the next few weeks. After that, she wasn't sure what she would do.

The media didn't know she was pregnant and they didn't know about Randy, and she intended for it to stay that way. Fortunately her pregnancy wasn't showing yet, so it was unlikely that she'd face any awkward questions.

It was hard to leave. It wasn't just that she wasn't going to see Randy every day, she wouldn't see Lita, or Christy, or Chris, or Hunter. Steph had stopped travelling with the wrestlers as she thought all the flights couldn't be good for the baby, and she didn't want to take any risks. She still called Laura every day, to see what was going on. She didn't worry too much about trouble while Laura was there to sort it out. Steph's daily phone calls were a delight to Laura, and she'd miss those too.

Randy. She'd miss him so much. They hadn't spent a whole day apart since they'd started dating, and although they'd fixed it so that their home time would coincide, they'd be apart for much of the month. Randy was worried about her. Even though the doctors she'd seen had said that she was fine, he was still concerned about her travelling alone. He'd offered to try and take some time off to travel with her, but she refused.

"Be sensible about it Randy, you're gonna need time off when the baby's born, I'll be fine, I'm a big girl, honestly. The only thing wrong with me is the morning sickness, and I'll get through that." She caressed his neck, trying to relax him, "trust me baby, if I feel ill in any way, I'll tell someone. I don't want anything to happen to the baby."

"How is the little orange this morning?" He put his hand on her stomach and smiled. They'd brought a book which explained a lot about pregnancy, including the size of the baby as it was growing; it started off tiny, like a grape, growing to an orange, a grapefruit and so on. It was their standing joke.

"Orange's good."

"You'll call me every morning, yeah? And I'll call you every night." Randy bit his lip, he didn't want this moment to come. "Ah fuck Laura, I don't want you to go."

"I don't want to go either babe, but we have to get used to this. I'm not gonna be able to travel with you for ever, am I?"

"I know."

"So please don't make this harder for me."

"Sorry."

Chris and Hunter came over. She hugged both in turn, getting emotional. She'd already been crying, when she'd said goodbye to the girls, and now she was saying goodbye to two of her best friends too. She knew she'd be an emotional wreck by the time she had to say goodbye to Randy.

"Take care sweetheart, we'll miss you."

"I'll miss you guys too. Look after my boy for me, yeah?"

Chris was still a little cold with Randy after what had happened, but he nodded. Hunter always watched over Randy anyway, so he just agreed without a thought.

"You'll need to set off for the airport soon babe, the traffic can be bad at this time."

"I know." Laura hugged them both again, "thank you guys, I'll see you soon, yeah?"

"Yeah, of course babe. Don't leave it too long, and you take care of Randy Junior in there, yeah?"

Laura laughed at Hunter, "just so long as you take care of Randy senior."

They waved her off as Randy drove away, and she wiped her eyes, grabbing another tissue from her pocket. "Aw, fuck."

"What's up angel?" Randy glanced at her in concern.

"I smudged my mascara."

He shook his head, only Laura would wear mascara on a day when she knew she'd be crying. "You still look beautiful to me."

"Thank you."

They drove along in silence. Laura could have filled the air with mindless chatter, but she just wanted to savour these moments of peace, of being alone with Randy.

The airport came into view all too quickly. This was it. She knew it was only a month and she didn't know if it was because she was pregnant that she was so emotional but she started crying again. Randy parked up and pulled her into his arms, wanting to comfort her and wanting to remember the feel of her.

"Don't cry babe, it's just a month, and we'll still see each other… ten days till we both get two nights together. I know it's hard and I'm gonna hate it but I don't wanna see you upset babe."

"I know, I'm being irrational. I'll just miss you is all. Pregnancy does stupid things to your hormones I guess," she wiped at her eyes. "Aw fuck, look at the state of me now."

Randy touched her chin, and forced her to keep her head still. Gently he wiped the black smears from under her eyes. She checked herself in the mirror and smiled.

"I'd best go in."

He nodded reluctantly. "I'll bring your bags."

Once Laura had checked in, she sat down with Randy. This was the hardest part, waiting. She rested her head on Randy's shoulder, feeling more secure as he wrapped an arm around her. Her flight was called for the final time and she stood up, willing the tears not to come. They did anyway.

"Don't cry angel. Ten days is all we have till we're together again."

"I know, I'll call you tonight, yeah?" she checked she'd got everything and gave him one last hug. He forced a smile, and quickly put his sunglasses on. "Drive safely honey."

"Don't I always?"

He waited until her flight had boarded, then walked off. Ten days would never go so slowly.

* * *

Hunter was a little worried. Randy was moping. He would be either sat, stating into space, or checking his phone for a new message from Laura.

"Hey man, lighten up, only a week and you can see her again." Hunter sat down next to the younger man. "Kid, I'm worried about you. It isn't right, you moping about like this. It's not like you're never gonna see her again."

"I know, I'm just… what if she changes her mind?" Hunter gave him an 'are you on crack?' look, so he continued, "I just get the feeling that I'm not smart enough for her, you know? She's at book conventions and doing press interviews with all these well read, intelligent guys. What if she decides she doesn't want me anymore?"

Hunter laughed, "god, you two are a pair. You know, a while ago Laura had the same conversation with Steph? She was worried that she wasn't pretty enough, said you should be with one of the divas or a model or an actress."

"That's crazy." To Randy, she was the most beautiful girl in the world.

"I know that." Hunter knew Randy wasn't the smartest, so he explained the logic of his story, "you know it's crazy that you'd ever want someone else, well it's crazy that she'd want anyone else. She loves you man. She's crazy about you."

"I'm just being stupid ain't I?"

"Yeah. Come on man, we're all going for a drink. Join us, it'll do you good." Randy hesitated, "ah go on man, you can bring your cellphone, you won't miss her call. Give us all a chance to say hello."

"You're right, as always."

Hunter put his hand on Randy's shoulder, he felt sorry for the kid, "look, I know it's hard at first, especially when you had all that time of seeing each other every day. Don't get yourself down, channel it all into your training. It'll take your mind off her, and you'll benefit from the extra practice."

"Thanks Hunt, I appreciate it."

Come on then, it's so long since you've come out for a drink with us, I think the first round is on you."


	15. Chapter 15

Title: Solving Problems (15?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?  
A/N: Thanks for the reviews once again. Sorry I'm not updating as frequently as I was, but real life keeps getting in the way. I also need to note that the orange/grapefruit thing was shamelessly borrowed from Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash (The Royle Family), apologies for not crediting before. I meant to, but forgot! Anyway, here's another installment.

Randy was due to be home before Laura, so he made a few plans. First off, he figured he'd best go to the grocery store, as most of his cupboards were empty aside from potato chips and microwave popcorn. He wasn't so much a bad cook as lazy. When he was growing up his dad had often been away, and his mom worked shifts at the hospital, so he'd often have to cook for himself. He was rarely at his house now, so there had seemed like little point in stocking up. Now, he was actually looking forward to impressing someone.

He wasn't too good at all this domesticated stuff, but he worked pretty hard at making the place look nice and feel like home. By the time he was due to pick Laura up at the airport, he was exhausted. It would be worth it though.

When he spotted her in arrivals he waved, and she ran straight over, nearly screaming at him in joy.

"Oh babe, it's so good to see you." She hugged him tightly, "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too angel," he inhaled her scent and sighed, this was what had been missing. "You ok?"

"I'm good. Me and the grapefruit's been missing you."

"Grapefruit now huh? The little one's growing quickly." Randy put his hand to her stomach. Slowly, a little bump was making itself known. He smiled and grabbed her bags, "ready?"

Laura nodded, "take me home."

She said that because it did feel like home already. Even though she'd only spent about a week there in total, it was somewhere she felt safe and secure. Maybe that was because of Randy, it didn't matter. All that mattered was that it was theirs.

Laura was wired, asking about everyone, wanting to catch up on all the news. Randy was a terrible gossip, so he filled her in on some of the more salacious occurrences, the pranks played and arguments that had occurred. She missed having seen all of this, but her time away had been successful. The book had received mostly good reviews, and her agent expected a best seller. He was already putting pressure on for another. She was, in her own way, itching to get back to writing again. As soon as the last of the interviews were over, she'd start writing again. There were already a few ideas running around her head.

Randy watched her out the corner of his eye, delighted to have her back by his side where she belonged. He knew they'd soon get a routine sorted, and that being apart would get easier to bear. It also made the days together more special. He figured they'd have to make the most of it just being the two of them, as soon they would be three. While he was happy about that, it was also something scary too. Each day, the fact that he would be a father was becoming more and more real to Randy.

* * *

Laura was impressed. Randy had cooked her a lovely meal, and had refused to let her do anything, even doing the dishes himself. He insisted that she go watch TV while he cleared up, and by the time he'd finished she was dozing on the couch.

Randy knelt by her side, watching her sleep. He mused on how much his life had changed since he'd met her. His career was improving, he was focused on being a success. He'd been forgiven for his behaviour, and had changed his attitude to his colleagues. He was all of a sudden domesticated, happy to be at home, and was finally thinking about the future. Although they hadn't planned to have a baby, Randy wouldn't change what had happened. He was firmly convinced that Laura was the best thing to happen to him. He figured that he was finally growing up. He was scared, but at least this time he hadn't tried to run away from his responsibilities.

She mumbled in her sleep, and her eyes fluttered open. She was still drowsy, exhausted after a busy day of work and travelling.

"Wanna go to bed angel?"

She nodded, wanting nothing more than to lay in Randy's arms. She felt drained of energy, almost to the point of being unable to stand.

"Want me to carry you?"

Laura smiled slightly, "it's ok honey, I can walk, I'm just worn out from today."

He held out his hand, "if you're sure."

Laura pretty much fell into bed, and allowed Randy to undress her. She was tired, but determined to stay awake until Randy joined her. Falling asleep with him by her side, and waking up with him was a precious gift she was determined not to waste.

She snuggled into Randy's embrace, smiling to herself as he protectively held a hand over her stomach. She hadn't expected him to adjust to impending parenthood so easily; she was still pretty scared herself. She was lucky, she knew that, and she just hoped that her luck wouldn't run out any time soon.

* * *

Laura decided that it would be best if she stayed home, rather than go back to travelling with Randy, now that her promotional commitments were complete. The doctor had advised caution because of her blood pressure, suggesting weekly check ups to make sure that everything would be ok. It therefore seemed sensible to remain at home, where Randy's parents were only a few minutes away.

Much as Randy wanted Laura with him full time, he knew that it was for the best she stay at home. When the doctor had raised concerns he'd been terrified, and now he was, if anything, overprotective of Laura. He knew where his priorities lay now, and he was extremely nervous lest anything bad should happen.

Randy had become very good friends with Hunter. Hunter had pretty much taken Randy under his wing right from the beginning, and now he was finding that the young man was a good sounding board for his worries and concerns about Steph and the baby. Randy knew where he was coming from, having had so many concerns with Laura's pregnancy so far.

Chris had thawed towards Randy somewhat, as he'd watched the young man remain faithful and dedicated to the girl who was like a little sister to him. He'd had doubts, but Randy had worked hard to prove himself. Chris had taken him to one side one day, he wanted to make a few things clear.

"Randy look, I know I was angry with you about leaving Laura alone in the hospital…"

"I know and you had every right to be," Randy interrupted, "I fucked up and I accept that."

Chris nodded and continued, "well, I was angry with you, but I've got to be honest man, you've been doing nothing but good since. I've spoken to Laura on the phone a few times, and I've never heard her so happy."

Randy felt the pride building in his chest, he was immensely proud that he should be the one allowed to make Laura so happy, "thank you Chris, that means a lot."

"What I said still stands," Chris warned, "hurt her and I'll kick your ass, but I just wanted you to know that I appreciate everything you've done for her."

Randy was relieved to have Chris back on his side. He felt like it was one less thing to worry about.


	16. Chapter 16

Title: Solving Problems (16?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?

Laura was worried about Lita. Randy had mentioned some stuff the last time he was home. She'd been going off the rails, getting drunk a lot and neglecting her work. From what Randy had said, Trish and the other girls were really worried, but Lita was lashing out at everyone, seemingly unwilling to confront her behaviour.

Laura decided that she'd kill two birds with one stone. At five months pregnant, she was still ok to fly, so she booked a flight out to New York, where all the wrestlers were doing a couple of shows. She could surprise Randy and look out for Lita at the same time.

She decided to let Chris in on her plan, and he met her at the airport, driving her first to her apartment, and then to the arena. He was pleased to see her looking so happy; pregnancy was obviously agreeing with her. He was also glad that she'd decided to visit, as he to was worried about Lita. He'd known her for years, and had never seen her so upset or off the wall.

"Has anything happened Chris?" Laura knew that the Canadian would be honest with her, "what's made her so unhappy?"

Chris shook his head, "I don't know what's gone on. It's not Edge, he's moved on to someone else now, I don't know if she's been in touch with Matt or not."

"She loved him, didn't she?"

"I can't believe everything that happened. Matt didn't deserve all that."

Laura gave Chris a pointed look, "Lita didn't deserve to have everyone calling her a slut either. Matt didn't deserve to lose his job, but you can hardly lay the blame for that at Lita's door."

"I know." Chris knew that Laura was fiercely loyal to her friend, and wasn't about to argue with her. She had a vicious temper when provoked.

They were nearly at the arena. Once they'd parked up, Laura called Randy.

"Hey babe," there was surprise in his voice, she wasn't supposed to call him until later on.

"Hey honey, you ok?" She could hardly keep the laughter out of her voice as Chris led her to the catering room, where Randy would be.

"I'm good." There was still confusion in his voice, "is everything ok love? You're early calling me."

"I wanted to surprise you." She hung up, and stood at the door. It took about two seconds for Randy to look up and spot her.

"Laura!" He nearly jumped over a couple of chairs and knocked over a table to get to her, finally pulling her into a massive hug and kissing her thoroughly. "What are you doing here babe?"

"I missed you." She couldn't keep the grin off her face, and her heart nearly melted there and then when Randy bent down to kiss her stomach too.

"I missed both of you. How's the little one been?" He held his hand on her baby bump and grinned as he felt the baby kicking.

"Active. Fidgets all the time, much like daddy."

Randy laughed, "it's so good to see ya babe. What made you decide to visit?"

"I thought, New York, may as well come as we're got my apartment here. As well, I wanted to see Lita. After everything you said, I'm worried about her."

Randy nodded, "she's not doing great. I don't even know if she's here yet."

"If you don't mind angel, I'm gonna give her a call. We'll hook up later, yeah?"

"I guess." He kissed her again, reluctant to let go. "See ya later darlin'."

She went out into the corridor and pulled up Lita's number. The redhead sounded exhausted when she answered.

"Yeah?"

"Lita babe, it's Laura."

"Hey sweetness. How's the baby?" Laura heard in Lita's voice something that scared her. It was something that showed exactly how close Lita was to completely falling apart.

"The baby's good. How are you angel?"

Laura could hear Lita's voice dissolve into tears. It was as if she really couldn't take any more.

"Darlin' I'm here in New York, tell me where you are and I'll come and find you. It's ok Lita, I promise, whatever it is you're not on your own."

"I'm at my hotel… same one everyone's at, room 517." Lita was so exhausted she couldn't even remember the name of the place she was staying.

"I'll come straight over, love."

Laura hung up. She hadn't expected Lita to be this bad. She walked back in to Randy and asked him to drive her over to the hotel. Once he saw how upset Laura was he immediately agreed.

When she knocked on Lita's door she didn't know what to expect. Lita looked dishevelled when she answered, her eyes were almost swollen shut and she looked like she hadn't slept in weeks. The redhead fell into Laura's outstretched arms, crying even though she'd been convinced that she didn't have any tears left.

Gently Laura led her over to the couch and sat her down, stroking her hair tenderly and whispering soothing words.

"It's all got too much for me Laura. I can't do this anymore."

"Talk to me Lita. Tell me. I might not be able to make it better but if you don't talk about it it's just going to eat you up inside until there's nothing left."

"I feel…I feel defined by what I did. I cheated on Matt with Edge, and now I think that's all people see when they see me." Lita sniffed and wiped at her eyes with her sleeve, "it's like, I think people are talking about me, like all the old rumours about me have resurfaced and this time people really do believe them. I wasn't an angel in Mexico but I wasn't as bad as people make out."

Laura nodded thoughtfully. She'd heard all the rumours about Lita and the ways she was alleged to have paid for her wrestling training in Mexico.

"Now though, I don't see how I'm gonna get past this. I've worked so hard all my life to do this, to be here, and I feel like it's only a matter of time before it all gets taken away from me. Matt had it all taken away and that was my fault."

"Matt's a grown man Lita, he was hurt, but he didn't exactly handle the situation well, did he? He's doing well out of the situation career wise. He's never had so many fans interested in him. This isn't about Matt though. This is about exactly what's happened to make you feel so low. Babe, I've known you a long time now, I've known you go through some really bad stuff, and always come out the other side. Has something happened, or are you just tired of fighting?" Laura wasn't sure she was taking the right approach here. If something had happened, maybe Lita wouldn't be ready to talk about it yet.

"I miss him so much… I love him still, even after everything. I'm tired. I've lost my faith in myself and I don't feel capable of fighting any more. I guess I don't think I deserve anything any more. If I don't believe in myself how can I fight to make others believe in me?"

Laura nodded. She could see where the redhead was coming from, she was in a similar place to the one Laura had been a few years ago. It hurt to see pain so raw. She was formulating a plan in her mind. "Lita, I'm gonna make a few phone calls, will you do something for me sweetheart?" Lita nodded, "go and have a shower, freshen up and look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that the girl in the reflection is special. Keep telling yourself that, because I promise you it's true. Then we're gonna go over to the arena, and I'll tell you what I've done. Is that ok?"

Lita was intrigued, and nodded. She didn't know what Laura had planned, but if it would help to ease the aching in her heart, it was worth a try. She trusted her friend.

Laura got straight on the phone to Matt. She knew he'd be surprised to hear from her, and she also knew she was taking a risk, but she figured if Matt could forgive Lita, then maybe she could forgive herself.

"Matt, hi it's Laura… really good… that's right yeah… we're really happy… how are you?… Really?… tell me about it love… you do?… babes I know, really… it's not helping… really? That would be good… She's not doing great… that's why I called… I know… you're both hurting… would you make amends if you could? She blames herself still… she's killing herself over this… over everything… would you?… Can she? That would be great… no promises… I know, it's hurting us all seeing her like this… you too… miss you too babes… hopefully not for too much longer… yeah… I know happy endings don't always happen… I've got my fingers crossed for you though… I'll tell her… yeah, New York for two days and then three days off… Wednesday that would be then… ok… thank you so much Matt… I hope it does too. See ya darlin'."

Laura breathed a sigh of relief. Matt was missing Lita desperately, and he'd watched her on WWE programming with dismay, seeing her pain behind her eyes, even when she thought she was hiding it. He'd agreed that Lita could go and visit him. There were no promises, but he promised to give her a chance to try and sort it out.

Laura sat down and waited for Lita to finish. When she came out the bathroom she looked a lot better, and almost had a smile on her face. She'd done what Laura suggested, and actually felt better for it.

"So, what is your plan?"

Laura bit her lip, she hoped Lita wouldn't go crazy at her. "I called Matt." She watched as Lita's face turned pale, worried about having interfered perhaps too much, "he misses you… he watches you on TV and he knows you're not happy. He said that if you want to go visit him this week, maybe you two could try and work things out. No promises, but he's willing to give it a go."

"Really?" Lita didn't dare believe that it might be true. "Thank you so much… I wanted to call him so much but I was scared to. I was so scared that he'd…" She didn't want to finish that thought. Matt had said some hurtful things when they'd broken up.

"No promises love, but it's a chance." Laura was worried, but it was in the hands of her two friends now. "Shall we go to the arena? I think you've got a match tonight, haven't you?"

It was a different Lita who left the room to the one that had entered it.


	17. Chapter 17

Title: Solving Problems (17?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?

Laura was tired by the time she got back to her apartment with Randy. It had been a long day, but it seemed like it would be worth it. Lita seemed to be coming back to herself, and Laura had talked to Trish to get her to keep an eye out for their friend.

Randy liked staying at Laura's apartment whenever he was in New York. The place told him an awful lot about Laura, whether it be the piles of books all over the place indicating her choice of subject matter, or the cds that revealed her interesting, or as Laura would have it, 'appalling' taste in music. It was even better when Laura was there with him. She knew the best restaurants to visit, the best parks to walk round, it was evident that she loved the neighbourhood. Randy sometimes felt guilty for persuading her to move to St. Louis, but she reassured him that she loved her new home just as much.

For Randy it was a fantastic surprise to have Laura here. He'd got used to empty hotel rooms and empty beds, so to hold her close was a treat and a pleasure. He sat on the couch with Laura in front of him, his hands protectively over her stomach. At times like this, when it was just the two of them together, he liked to daydream about how things would be once the baby was born. The idea of a family unit was becoming less alien to him now, he was actually looking forward to it. It still didn't seem quite real though. His mind couldn't really comprehend that it was only a few months until that vision would actually materialise. It was as if it was still months away. In a way, Randy wishes things could stay like this forever: just he, Laura and the promise of a child.

Laura loved this time too. She enjoyed the peace, and the security of having Randy's arms around her. It was times like this she felt safe. A few years ago, she'd never thought she'd have this again. Thinking back to that time made her tense, and Randy immediately noticed.

"What's wrong babe?"

"Nothing." She smiled at him sweetly, not wanting to worry him, "just thinking."

"About Jeff?"

She was surprised, but at the same time not at all surprised. Randy knew her better than she thought. "Yeah."

"Wanna tell me about it?"

She did and she didn't. Every time she spoke to Matt she was reminded of Jeff, and he always preyed on her mind for a few days after. She'd developed her own way of dealing with the feelings that aroused, but it never got any easier to do.

"It's ok if you don't want to talk. I can just hold you if you want. I won't push if you don't want to talk about him."

With that she knew that he understood, that he would understand. "I've tried to just put it out of my mind, you know? Pretend it never happened, that I never let it happen. It's just, every time I talk to Matt, or every time anyone mentions him, I start thinking about it all over again and it gets to me."

He nodded, caressing her cheek gently, simple touches that let her know that she was safe.

"I can't believe I stayed for so long… with what he did. I guess I thought I could handle it, I could change him. I could help with everyone else's problems, why couldn't I deal with my own? And everyone thought I was strong, I couldn't go to anyone for help. It was really hard, you know, the change was so gradual, maybe I realised too late…"

Randy didn't want to hear her blame herself. He pulled her close and whispered soft words of love into her hair. He realised that she needed to get this out, she needed to tell him about this part of her life so that she could put it past her.

"I just started not believing in myself, you know? This man, who was supposed to love me, kept putting my down, and I started believing him. When that turned physical, where did I have to go? I had to stay, I had no choice. If it hadn't been for Hunter and Chris, I might not be here now. When they saw what he did that night, there was no way they were gonna let me go back.

"I still loved him, even after that. I realised he needed help though, and I realised I needed some space. I came here, and I poured my heart into writing, it was the only release I had. I had counselling, which helped me to understand why I stayed, and why I felt the way I did. After that, I guess I was ok. I just never felt safe. I was scared, I guess. And I think I stayed scared until I met you. I know that sounds irrational, but I knew I had to put my faith in someone. The feelings I had for you were too strong, I had to trust in you or I'd never trust in anyone again."

"I'll never hurt you Laura, I promise you." Randy kissed the top of her head. His emotions were all mixed up, but he knew that one thing was true. At one side, his heart was breaking that Laura should have been through all that, but at the other he felt like the king of the world that she should choose him to be with him, and trust him.

"I know. I always knew. That's why I fell in love with you."

Laura slept soundly that night, for the first time in a long time she had nothing to be afraid of. She had the two most important people in her world with her, and that was what mattered.

* * *

Steph was constantly on the phone to Laura. She was due to give birth any day now, and with every twinge she would phone Laura to ask her advice and to panic about what was about to happen.

Laura enjoyed the calls. She had three months to go yet, so it was a relief to have someone else to talk to, and someone to go through the whole thing before her. Laura considered herself lucky, as she had Randy's mom just a few minutes away. Steph had her mom, but Linda was not the sort of person who would be a hands-on grandma. Laura had the feeling that she was Steph's link with reality, and with the wrestling world. Hunter was far too worried about his wife and the baby to be able to tell her much about what was going on with all the wrestlers, so Laura, through Randy, was able to keep her up to date. It also kept Steph's mind off the impending birth.

Hunter was amusing Randy greatly, although Randy figured that he'd probably be the same when Laura was close to giving birth. Hunter was pacing whatever room he was in, unable to sit down and relax at all. His cellphone never left his side, apart from the times when he had to wrestle. At those times, Randy was entrusted with the phone. Laura found Randy's tales of Hunter most amusing, and she enjoyed the fact that he was showing his caring side at last. She knew full well that Steph and the baby were the most important things in the world to him, and it was good to see him expressing that.

Of course, it finally happened, and Steph went into labour for real. Hunter was running around like a headless chicken until Randy calmed him down enough to get him to pack all his stuff. He drove him to the airport and waited until the flight had left. He'd never seen the older man in such a state. He was actually doubting himself.

"Shit Randy, I can't do this."

"What, man?" Randy looked at his friend in sympathy, suddenly a little scared himself. This would be him in three months time.

"I'm gonna be a dad."

"Yeah man, you've known that for months."

"I know, but it's actually happening now. I'm fucking scared man."

Randy thought back to the time outside the hospital, when he'd found out he was going to be a dad, and the advice that Hunter had given him then. "Hunt, you're gonna be a great dad. Steph's gonna need you to be strong, she needs you now. She's a strong girl, but she's gonna need all the help she can get. Linda's not exactly the maternal type, is she?"

"I know." Hunter grinned, coming back to himself somewhat. "Thanks man, I needed that pep talk. I've got the easy part in all this, don't I? You don't know how lucky you are, having parents who really want to get involved. Vince and Linda just want a grandson. They just expect us to hire a nanny, and come straight back to work. Steph doesn't want that."

"I know I'm lucky, you don't need to tell me." Randy wasn't finished counting his blessings. "Just do what you have to Hunt. You're gonna be a great dad."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Laura definitely thinks so, and I do too. Don't worry, just do what comes natural." With that, Randy snorted, "listen to me giving out advice like I know what I'm doing. Another three months and I'll be in the same position."

On the way back from the airport, Randy called up Laura to let her know the news. She'd already spoken to Steph at least five times, so was well aware of what was going on. She sensed the nerves in her boyfriend's voice, and was a little worried about it.

"Is it all starting to hit home now babe?"

Randy smiled, he should have known that she'd pick up on his feelings, "Hunter was so nervous, I tried to reassure him, but it's hard when I know I'll be in the same boat in a few months time. He was worried about whether he'll be a good dad."

"He'll be a great dad."

"I told him that. I'm just worried about whether I will be."

"You'll be a fantastic dad sweetheart. I know you will." Somehow, that made him feel better, hearing that.

"Thank you. When you tell me that, I really believe it."

Laura laughed, "Randy, I'm gonna go love, Steph said Hunter's gonna call you as soon as he can, so call me straight after, I'm dying to know."

"OK darling. Love you."

"Love you too babe."


	18. Chapter 18

Title: Solving Problems (18?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?  
A/N: Short but fairly pivotal chapter here. I'm awkward when it comes to how I write, if things seem confused... well they are. It's kind of the point. Hope you like though, let me know what you think. I never did like the traditional route grins

Randy didn't find it that easy to rid his mind of doubt, despite what he'd told Laura. He was starting to feel something that he hadn't felt for a good few years now. Trapped. Not since he'd been in the Marines had he felt like this. Then, he'd run away. Now? He wasn't sure what he was going to do.

He loved Laura. That wasn't an issue. He knew that she was the only girl for him, and knew that he never, ever wanted to hurt her. He enjoyed living with her, it made life at home bearable and enjoyable. She was everything he'd ever wanted, and she made him happy.

That wasn't the problem. The enormity of bringing another life into the world was the problem, at least part of it. In the beginning, he'd been scared, worried, concerned, but had just accepted that this baby was going to happen. He'd just have to deal with it in the best way he could. He'd had well over six months to deal with it. Now, he wasn't sure that he had a way of coping. Being a father was such a big responsibility. Up until now, Randy had been convinced that he'd take to being a dad just like he'd taken to wrestling: as a complete natural. Now, he wasn't sure. He knew how much bad parents could fuck you up, he'd seen it in some of his friends. He didn't want to be a bad parent and he didn't want to be responsible for making someone so unhappy. There had been times when he'd grown up that Randy had really resented his father for being a wrestler, for not being home all the time like the other dads were. Sure, it had been cool to have a famous father, but he'd have traded it in a heartbeat for a father that could be there on a Friday night to cheer him on when his school played their closest rivals. Randy figured the baby would probably grow up thinking the same. He was starting to think that maybe it would be better for the baby to have no father than to have a bad one.

He knew he was making a lot of excuses, but everything was building up, the pressure was getting too much to bear, and Randy knew only too well that it was just a matter of time before he crumbled. Things would crumble, because there were just too many reasons why Randy shouldn't, or couldn't, be the partner and father Laura and the baby needed and wanted him to be. Excuses or reality, it didn't really matter to Randy at the moment. All that mattered was that he was not coping with impending parenthood, and something soon would trigger off an event that could bring his world tumbling down.

Any other concerns Randy had, he would have talked about them to Laura. She had a way of making him think about things in a different way, and making even the complicated stuff make sense. How could he talk to her about this though? Even mentioning it would hurt her, and he wasn't prepared to do that. How could you tell the woman you claimed to love that you were thinking about running away?

He knew that if he didn't deal with these thoughts, she'd end up hurt though. And that scared the hell out of him.

* * *

Hunter called in the early hours of the morning, he and Steph were the proud parents of a baby boy. Both the baby and Steph were fine, and Hunter was over the moon.

"You should see him Randy, he's perfect. He's so tiny but he's perfect. He's beautiful. I'm so proud of Steph… my god it's the most incredible thing we've ever done."

Randy smiled at the emotion in his friend's words. It was stirring up a lot of conflicting emotions in him but it was touching just the same. "Congratulations man, it's fantastic news. Have you got a name for the little guy yet?"

"Paul Vincent. Vince kind of insisted. Said it was a family tradition. We don't mind though."

"Hunt, I'm really happy for you, I'm gonna give Laura a call, let her know the good news. Give Steph and the baby our love."

"Will do, she'll probably give Laura a call as soon as she gets the chance."

Randy hung up and immediately called his girlfriend. He was reluctant about calling her in the middle of the night, but he knew she'd want to know straight away.

"Hey sweetie, sorry for waking you."

"Randy, hey babe, any news?" She sounded tired, but eager to hear the latest news.

"Yeah, Hunter just called. Baby boy, Paul Vincent. Baby and Steph are fine."

"Aww, that's fantastic. How big was he?"

"I don't know, Hunter didn't say."

Laura laughed, "men, you always forget the important stuff!"

"Sorry babe, Hunter said Steph would probably call you soon anyway."

"She'd better. You ok love? You sound a little stressed"

"Just tired." Randy didn't realise his feelings were so evident in his voice. "How about you? Did I wake you?"

"Not really, I couldn't sleep anyway, the little one keeps kicking me."

The guilt coursing through Randy's veins at that moment made him shudder. He had some serious thinking to do.

"You go back to sleep sweetie. Call me in the morning." Laura knew that Randy had a tough schedule ahead of him: an awful lot of travelling and another ten days before he got a day off.

"Will do Laura. Love you babe."

"Love you too."

Randy would not sleep any more that night. His mind was visiting places he didn't want to go, taking him on a train of thought that, if he continued on it, would only end up in someone getting hurt. He wanted to call Laura and ask for her help in sorting out his feelings. He couldn't though. There was no one he could turn to, no one who would understand.


	19. Chapter 19

Title: Solving Problems (19?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?

When Hunter came back to work he brought with him many pictures of his son. Ever the proud father, he would show anyone and everyone the images, and talked constantly to anyone who would listen about how great it was to have a child.

It made Randy feel even worse. The pictures of Hunter holding his child had really got to him; the baby looked so small in Hunter's arms, so defenceless. It only served to make Randy's worry and fear double and treble until he could see and feel nothing else. He wasn't ready to become a father. He wasn't capable of being what Laura and the baby would need him to be.

He had to get away. He loved Laura, and he loved the baby, but he wasn't ready for this. Seeing Hunter as he was now, totally consumed by being a father, confirmed to Randy that he wasn't ready. He was too young, too selfish. The baby would trap him, and no matter how much he loved Laura he would come to resent her.

That night, when his cellphone rang, he didn't answer. He couldn't speak to Laura right now, as he knew that if he did, he'd reveal his feelings and she'd get upset and they'd end up having a conversation that he really didn't want to have. Instead, he went out to a bar and proceeded to get completely drunk.

Stacy was in the bar with a few friends. She saw Randy attempting to drink himself into oblivion, and having previously been a friend of his, went over to see if everything was ok.

"Randy? Don't you think you've had enough to drink?"

He looked up at the blonde and smiled, "probably, but sit down and have another with me."

She shook her head but took a seat anyway, ordering another couple of drinks. She liked Randy, she always had done, but since he'd been with Laura she'd stayed away. Shane Helms had told her a lot of things about Laura and she didn't want to associate with her too much, no matter how much the other divas liked her.

"So what's wrong?"

Randy sighed. In one way it would be good to talk to someone about how he was feeling, but on the other hand, this was Stacy. She was a nice girl, if a little naïve. He'd also slept with her once, about a year and a half ago. She was beautiful, and no matter how much he loved Laura, the temptation was still there. He decided to bite the bullet and tell her how he was feeling.

"I don't think I'm gonna cope with being a dad. I don't want to hurt Laura, but I feel trapped, I feel like I'll ruin the kid's life, and mine, and Laura's. They'll be better off without me. I love Laura, and I love the baby, but I can't do this." Randy knew that what he was saying made little sense, but his feelings made hardly any sense to him either. "Like, when I first found out Laura was pregnant, I was terrified, but I kind of started looking forward to being a dad, and me and Laura being a family. Now, as it's coming closer and closer I've got more and more scared and now I just know I can't do it. I love her, I love them both, but I can't do it. They're better off without me."

Stacy put a hand on Randy's arm and smiled at him sympathetically. "It's not your fault she trapped you, it's not your fault she's expecting all these things of you."

"Don't say that. She didn't trap me and she didn't expect anything of me. This is all in my head. It's my problem. I know you have a problem with her Stace, but don't say stuff like that." Randy was fierce in his defence of his girlfriend, despite his current train of thought.

"Randy, after what she did to Jeff…"

"No!" He stopped her words, slamming his fist on the bar. "Helms is full of shit. I know what happened. Chris was there, he told me. Jeff tried to throw her out of a fucking window… he was on drugs and he hurt her. She didn't drive him to drugs or anything else. He fucked her up, not vice versa. I know Helms is protecting his friend but even Matt accepts that Jeff was in the wrong."

Stacy looked away, embarrassed. She'd never heard the full story before. If she'd have known that Jeff had done that, she'd never have been so cold towards Laura. All she'd ever heard was Helms' story, and the odd bit of gossip that Helms had turned to his own advantage, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Laura kept it as quiet as possible. She didn't want people thinking badly of Jeff. She's a good person and I really love her. I'm just the fuck up here. I never wanted to hurt her. I promised I wouldn't." Randy put his head in his hands. "I wish I could go back and change things."

"You can't though, so what are you going to do?"

"I don't know." Randy stood up. "I'm gonna do something extremely stupid now, but I'm drunk so you can ignore me if you like. But would you come back to the hotel with me?"

She thought about it for a moment, but shook her head. "No. I like you Randy, but I'm not willing to be comfort sex or anything else. You love Laura, find a way of dealing with your fears. You're gonna be a father soon, like it or not, so you need to find a way of accepting that."

That wasn't what Randy wanted to hear, but he accepted it and made his way back to the hotel. He figured that at least he was drunk enough to get a decent night's sleep; a night that would not be plagued by dreams and nightmares of children.

* * *

Laura was worried. She'd not heard from Randy for three days now, and it was starting to get to her. He'd been busy before, but always managed to call her. She had been talking to Lita regularly since the redhead had got back together with Matt, and raised her concerns with her. She didn't want to sound like she was checking up on Randy, or that she was trying to control where he was, she just wanted to hear his voice and know that he was ok. Lita offered to go talk to him. She had no pretensions to the same kind of insight that Laura had, but she knew Randy fairly well, and hoped that she could find out what was going on.

She knew something was wrong as soon as she saw the young wrestler. He looked like he hadn't slept in a week. Randy looked exhausted, the dark shadows under his eyes just a small example of the turmoil he was experiencing.

"Randy, love, is everything OK?" Lita pulled the young man to one side after a house show. It had been the first chance she'd had to talk to him.

"I'm fine, just tired." Randy really didn't want to talk to Lita; she was too close to Laura, too much of a reminder of the woman he was hurting.

"So why haven't you answered Laura's calls? Why haven't you called her? She's scared stiff."

Randy cringed; the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. "I can't talk to her."

"Why? Fucking hell Randy, it's a bit late to be getting cold feet, she's eight months pregnant."

"I know, I know. I love her… I'm just a bit fucked in the head right now… tell her I love her, please Lita." That was about the only thing Randy was sure about right now. "Tell her I'm sorry, I don't want to hurt her, I'm just in a bad place right now."

"OK, but you best call her, at least let her know you're ok. She's breaking her heart thinking she's done something wrong. Please, put her mind at ease, I know how her mind works and she's blaming herself, not you. Sort this out, before it goes too far. You do her wrong Randy, and I swear to god I'll hurt you."

"I know. The last thing I want is to hurt her Lita, I promise you that." It was true, but it still didn't answer any of her questions or fears.

He didn't call her that night, or the next day either. Lita passed on his message, but that just served to confirm Laura's belief that Randy didn't want her or the baby any more. She could see no other option but to go.


	20. Chapter 20

Title: Solving Problems (20?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?

When Randy had called Laura it had only confirmed her worst fears. She could hear the doubt in his voice, and that was all she needed. Her self esteem had fallen to a massive low, and the emotions she heard in his voice did nothing but grind it into the floor.

She made a decision. She had to go now, before the baby was born. She'd told him right from the start that he could back out if he wanted, that she could look after the baby alone if necessary. Randy's parents had offered their help, and it was appreciated, but Laura couldn't face them right now. If Randy didn't want her, then so be it. She'd just go back to New York and learn to survive on her own again.

Laura packed her bags. She was too far gone to fly, but she could still get back to New York by coach. It would be a good few hours, but she didn't feel that she could stay any longer. She needed Randy right now, but he evidently didn't need her.

It was purely by luck that Randy's mom chose that evening to check up on Laura. She'd taken to doing so at least once a week, concerned for her grandchild's welfare, and it was in shock that she found Laura with several bags packed, just waiting for a cab to take her to the coach station.

"Laura, where are you going love?"

Laura didn't want a confrontation, she didn't want to have to explain how she felt, she felt irrational enough as it was. It wasn't as if Randy had come out and said he didn't want her. His actions had made it pretty much clear though.

"Randy doesn't want me. I need to go now."

"Sweetheart, I don't know what's happened, but wait a few days. You can't go anywhere in this condition." Elaine was afraid of losing her grandchild, and also losing the good friend that she had made in Laura.

"I can't. I can't stay here, knowing he doesn't want me." Everywhere Laura looked, it reminded her of Randy. Every little thing was a symbol of the relationship they'd had, and everything taunted her about how life should be.

"Where will you go?"

"Back to New York. It's the only place I have."

"Please, don't go. Not until you've spoken to him."

"I've spoken to him Elaine. I recognise the pain in his voice, he can't tell me how he really feels cos he's scared he'll hurt me. I just know that he'll hurt me in the end though, and I can't take putting myself through that. I'm getting out now. I love him, which is why I'm leaving. I have to."

"Please Laura, stay. At least until you know for sure how he feels. Randy can be a fool, but when he realises what he's losing he'll come round."

"I can't stay here Elaine. I love him too much and it hurts me to be here without him. This is his home, it's not mine anymore."

"Please. Stay with me and Bob. At least until you've spoken to him again. Don't travel in this condition, you're too far gone and you shouldn't be alone right now. I know we're not the people you need but we're here and we care. Please, don't go."

Laura wanted to be alone, but at the same time that was the last thing she wanted. She assented, weary, exhausted and emotionally spent. She allowed Elaine to lead her to the car, and take her back to Randy's parents house. These people said that they cared, and that was the most that Laura felt like she could cope with right now.

* * *

Randy was in turmoil. He'd spoken to his mom, and was terrified to know that Laura was preparing to leave him. However, that news wasn't enough to calm his fears, and he still couldn't bring himself to deal with that. The thought of losing her was scary, but not scary enough to motivate him to go home and see her.

He felt like he had no one to turn to. Hunter wouldn't understand how he could walk out on his child, Chris would kill him for hurting Laura, Lita was too close to Laura, Batista seemed to have his own issues that he was dealing with; there was no one he could talk to.

His mom called him regularly, berating him for his behaviour, updating him on Laura. He knew that he should go home and sort this out, but couldn't actually bring himself to face his girlfriend. To know that he had caused her pain would be too difficult to face. It was a matter of days until Laura was due to give birth, and he would have to make a decision sooner or later, one way or another.

Chris had called Laura to see how she was getting on, and had been able to tell in her voice that something was wrong. She wouldn't tell him anything, knowing that he'd only go and blame Randy. She didn't want to be the cause of strife between them.

Chris was perceptive though, he could tell that something was wrong. If Laura wasn't prepared to tell him what had happened, he'd find out from Randy, even if he had to beat it out of him.

"Orton? I want to talk to you." Randy wasn't that surprised when Chris approached him with a thunderous look on his face.

"Jericho, what's up man?" Randy tried to keep his tone neutral, not wanting to antagonise the man he knew had an awesome temper.

"What's happened with you and Laura?"

Randy took a deep breath and looked at the floor, unwilling to meet the anger in the eyes of the man who only had Laura's best interests at heart, "I walked away. I can't handle it, so I walked away before I hurt her too much."

Jericho punched Randy hard in the face, drawing blood. "You fucking bastard." Venom was dripping in his voice, as he drew his arm back to punch Randy again.

"I know." The contrition in Randy's voice was enough to stop Chris momentarily. "Believe me, you can't hate me as much as I hate myself right now."

"You promised her that you wouldn't hurt her." Chris was about to hit him again when Hunter burst into the room.

"What the hell's going on here?"

Chris looked at Randy with disdain. "Ask him. He's the one who's walked out on his girlfriend and child."

"Randy?" There was hurt in Hunter's voice, not least because the young man had been such a good friend to Hunter over the past few months, helping him deal with the challenges parenthood had brought.

"He's right man, I have. I've fucked over Laura and I've deserted her and the baby. I'm not proud of that but I'm fucked if I know what else to do right now. I'm so scared of becoming a father I'd rather run away."

Hunter knelt down by Randy's side. "You'd run away? Fuck man, I never thought I'd hear you say that."

"I never thought I would. I love Laura, honestly I do… but I am so fucking scared of bringing that child into the world… I can't be the father Laura wants me to be, I can't be the father the baby needs me to be. I'm better off away now, before I can hurt them any more than I already have." Randy turned away from them both, "they're better off never having been near me."

Hunter shook his head; he'd had doubts when Steph had first become pregnant, but the excitement had soon outweighed that. For Randy, he could see that it was entirely different.

Chris looked at Hunter in shock. His first thought had been for Laura, he hated seeing her go through bad stuff. He hadn't even considered Randy's side of the story. Often, people forgot that Randy was only 25; he had achieved so much in his career, and had carried himself so well, that he often seemed more mature than his years. The young man was tearing himself apart over this though.

"Randy, what did you tell me all those times I was nervous? You said that once our baby was born, I'd be fine. It'll be the same for you man, it really will." Hunter put his hand on the young man's shoulder, wanting to help him but at the same time completely unable to comprehend how he could feel like this.

"But if I'm not?" Randy looked up at Hunter, the man he idolised, the man who had helped him so much, "how much would that fuck up our kid if I were to mess up and run away. That's what I do, isn't it, run away when things get too tough for me. I did it in the marines and I'll end up doing it now. It's better that the kid never knows me, than for us to be happy for a while and then it all fall apart. You've seen how I deal with pressure: when I split up with Jenny before I met Laura, what did I do? I took it out on the girls here. I can't trust myself to deal with things, and I can't put Laura through that in the long run."

Hunter shook his head, this was way too much for him to deal with. This was the sort of thing, that if it was anyone else, he'd call up Laura and ask her advice. He couldn't do that now though. He was torn, and knew that Steph would seriously kick his ass if he didn't sort this out. He just had no idea how.

Chris figured it would be best to give Randy some time alone right now, and that he and Hunter needed to talk about what to do. Chris was all in favour of going to St Louis to make sure that Laura was OK, but Hunter guessed that Randy needed them more right now. He knew Laura had Randy's parents to rely on, and would call on Steph and Lita if she needed them.


	21. Chapter 21

Title: Solving Problems (21?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?  
A/N: Well, we're nearing the end. Thanks for all the reviews, I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed writing this and receiving them!

Randy was in yet another hotel bar, trying to drown his sorrows. Hunter and Chris hadn't managed to get through to him. He just couldn't make them see why he was doing this. It didn't help that his reasoning didn't make much sense to himself either. He was sure of only a few things: he would run away when things got too hard; Laura didn't deserve to have such an unreliable partner; he dealt with problems badly; and the baby was too precious to have such a fuck up for a father.

The bar was busy, but Randy still didn't manage to avoid the attention of one of his fellow wrestlers. Batista sat down opposite the young man, and looked at him in sympathy.

"What's up man?" His voice was gruff, and for the first time Randy could see and hear the depth of feelings that Laura had always talked about when she mentioned Batista. Randy had never really noticed before, but Laura was right, there was unhappiness in the big man's eyes.

"Don't ask." Randy motioned to a passing staff member for another beer. "You?"

"Family trouble."

Randy looked at his friend with interest. He knew that Batista was dedicated to his wife and kids, so any trouble must be bad. "Wanna tell me about it? Stop me thinking about my own problems for a while?"

Batista looked surprised, but nodded. He figured that Randy was a little young to understand where he was coming from, but it always helped to talk to another person. "I'm just wondering if all this is worth it. All the travelling I mean." Randy looked a little confused, so he continued, "It's my daughter's graduation soon. I'm booked to be in England. I just hate missing out on all this important stuff. My kids are only kids once, they only have things like this once, and I'm missing out on it all because I'm here. Don't get me wrong, I love wrestling, but I love my kids more, and I wonder if the sacrifices I'm making now are worth it, because in the long run I'm not going to get any of this time back."

Randy nodded, he could see Dave's point, remembering his own graduation; his dad had been away and had missed it, and that, at the time, really hurt. Of course, he'd rationalised since then, but that feeling still remained.

Batista continued, "I figure I've got two options. I can either quit now, and get to see her graduation, baseball games and all the fun stuff with the kids, but be short of money and have to work for a long time. Or, I can wrestle for another couple of years, be sensible with my money and spend the rest of my days enjoying my life with my wife and kids, and not have to be worried about cash and how to survive. I don't know what to do."

"If you quit wrestling now, would you regret it? Not just the money, but what you could have achieved?" Randy had always been very career-oriented, as his father had taught him to be, so that was the first thing that he would have considered had he been in Batista's position. "Would you resent your kids when you wondered 'what if'?"

"I don't know man, I really don't. They are completely the most important things in the world to me, and I know I've fucked up plenty of times with them, but they've always accepted that I make decisions and live by them. I missed a concert that my daughter had been rehearsing for months for, and she was upset, but she understood I have to earn a living. I hated hurting her, but she forgave me. Kids have this fantastic inbuilt acceptance that their parents aren't perfect."

"Sounds to me like they'd understand why you have to work, I guess they know that in the long run it's of benefit to them." Things were starting to fall into place in Randy's mind.

"Yeah, I guess they would." Batista sighed. "I'm lucky, I guess, I got to see them growing up, I was there for all the important stuff. First words, first steps… actually seeing them being born. I can't imagine how hard it must be for Hunter and Chris, missing out on all that stuff."

Randy nodded. Hearing all of this from someone who had been through it all, someone that Randy regarded as a role model father, was a real wake up call. If Batista, of all people, could admit that he made mistakes when it came to his children, could struggle with decisions, then maybe Randy could too. Especially because he suddenly realised that if he didn't make a decision soon, he'd never get those important moments back.

"Batista, thank you so much, I've been a complete fool, and I have some serious apologies to make. I have to go man, but thank you again. I hope things work out for you." Randy threw some ten dollar bills on the table to cover the drinks, and ran off, calling up Hunter on his cell phone as he hailed a cab.

"Hunter, I need some help man, I've fucked up and I need to get Laura back… I'm just in a cab on the way back to the hotel… can you? Great…. I've had a few drinks, can't drive… thanks man… see ya soon."

Randy had finally worked out that being a father didn't mean being perfect all the time, and didn't mean being trapped and tied down. It meant doing the best you can, and making those close to you as happy as you could achieve. Having kids meant savouring the important parts of life, the once-in-a-lifetime moments that only children could bring. Yes, he may be scared of the responsibility, scared of the commitment, but the force and power and belief behind Batista's words, and the genuine love he had for his children, it was all enough to convince Randy that being with Laura and the baby was the right thing.

Now all he had to do would be to convince Laura that she should take him back.


	22. Chapter 22

Title: Solving Problems (22?)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?  
A/N: Closer to the end now! I hope to finish posting this by the end of the week, as I started uni today, and won't have as much time for writing and stuff.

When Randy got off the plane and switched on his cellphone he had three new messages. He figured that it would probably be Hunter wanting an update on how things had gone, but instead his mom's voice could be heard:

"Randy, Laura's just gone into labour… you need to come home son."

"Randy, it's mom again, me and your dad are just driving her to the hospital now, call me as soon as you get this message."

"Randy, call me. Come home before you regret this for the rest of your life."

The last message was only from ten minutes ago. Randy immediately jumped into a cab and directed the driver to the hospital. He didn't have as much time to make it up to Laura as he thought. He tried calling his mom to let her know he was on his way, but her cellphone was switched off, as was his father's.

The half hour's drive was the longest of Randy's life. It was the middle of the night, so the roads were pretty clear. Randy was nervous as hell though, his mind couldn't focus on one thing: it fluttered from Laura to the baby to his behaviour to what he would say to her. He knew that he'd hurt her, that she'd be wary, but hoped that she still felt enough for him to forgive him.

Randy pretty much ran into the hospital, quickly asking for the maternity unit and running over to that department. He found the reception and hurried over.

"Hi, is Laura Jones here? I'm her partner, Randy Orton."

The nurse looked over her admissions notes and nodded, "follow me." She silently led him down a clinical, cold corridor to a small room. He could hear a faint sound of moaning and pain. Laura. It cut through his heart.

"Put these on, and come over to wash your hands." The nurse gave him a gown and hat to wear, and he followed the instructions as commanded. "OK, you can go in."

Randy sometimes got nervous in front of a big crowd. Coming out in front of all the fans at Wrestlemania or Summerslam was sometimes nervewracking to begin with, but once he got in the ring he loved it and wouldn't be anywhere else. Walking into this room was the most terrifying thing Randy had ever done.

"Laura?"

She looked over. Randy's mom was at her side, holding her hand. She was exhausted, emotional, scared; sweat slicking her brown hair back off her face, biting her bottom lip to try to stem the screams and expletives she'd been uttering the last few hours.

"Randy?" He couldn't quite figure out what emotions were in her voice; there was a coldness, a hopefulness, a sadness… he couldn't quite decide if there was any love left in there, but he knew if there wasn't, it would be his fault.

"Laura… I'm so sorry angel. I can't believe I fucked up… I hurt you. Forgive me, please."

"Randy…" she began to speak, but her words stopped as another contraction hit, and she screamed a little again. He immediately went to the other side of the bed to his mother and took Laura's hand, a little more optimistic as she squeezed it. She contraction subsided and she turned a little to face him.

"I don't wanna talk about it right now… just promise me you won't leave me again."

Now that was one thing he was sure about, "promise. I'm sorry Laura, I really am."

"I know."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier as well." Randy, being a wrestler, was used to seeing pain, but when it was his own girlfriend, it freaked him out somewhat. The worried look on his mother's face concerned him too.

"It's ok, your mom's been looking after me. I've been in for a few hours now… I think my contractions are every five minutes or so now. That means it's gonna be soon."

Randy's mom nodded, "it will, you're down to three minutes at the last one Laura, I'm gonna go and get the doctor, OK?"

Laura nodded, and for a few minutes it was only her and Randy, with a nurse in the background keeping an eye on her. He comforted her through the next contraction, stroking her hair and holding her hands, whispering soothing words.

"What happened to your face?" In a pain free moment, she looked up at him and smiled crookedly.

Randy cringed, he'd almost forgotten about the black eye Chris had given him. "Your friends like to defend you in any way they can."

"Chris?" It didn't take a genius to work it out.

"I deserved it, I've been an asshole."

"I didn't tell him… I knew he'd react like that. Sorry you got hurt babe."

"I'm sorry I hurt you." Randy bit his lip as Laura screamed again. He hated seeing this, but in a perverse way was so glad to be there. If he could help her in any way, even just by being there, then it was worth it.

A doctor came into the room and examined Laura briskly, looking somewhat satisfied, "ok Laura, when I say, I want you to push, remember the breathing exercises you learned at your classes."

She nodded, looking up at Randy. This was it. If he was going to run, it would be soon. If he stayed… if he stayed, she could maybe trust him again.

He stayed. He supported. He did everything he was supposed to do, everything that she hadn't dared hope that he'd do. He was what she'd dreamed he'd be, way back in the first few months when everything was ok. When she gave birth to their daughter he was there at her side, proud, emotional, and unashamedly crying in relief and hope.

He'd never been so scared, or so proud, as when he held that little girl for the first time. Nor had he ever felt so much love in his heart as when he looked at Laura holding the baby in her arms, exhausted but happy.

"I know we have a lot to talk about angel, but I love you and I'm so proud of you right now."

She nodded, tired and now quite emotional, "I'm so glad you came back. I didn't think I'd manage without you. I didn't know what I'd do. I still don't really understand… you're right, we need to talk. I'm just so tired right now, and we have to decide what to call her."

"Did you have any thoughts?" They hadn't really discussed it, as it had always seemed too far away to worry about. That had been part of the problem.

"From what I've been reading recently, I was thinking Perdita. It means 'the lost one'. It's pretty, and I thought it was appropriate too."

Randy nodded, understanding Laura's feelings; the baby wasn't the only lost one; they all were, in their own ways.


	23. Chapter 23

Title: Solving Problems (23/23)  
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in parlance  
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.  
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?  
A/N: The End! How exciting, and thanks to everyone for the reviews and support throughout. What started off as a bit of fun has turned into a massive learning curve for me, and I appreciate the sentiments, criticisms and compliments!

Laura was allowed home the next day. She wasn't sure what to do, or where to go. Randy's parents had offered her somewhere to stay, if she needed time to think about what was happening, but she thought that it was probably best if she went back to Randy's house, at least for now. She wanted to show some trust in him, to show that she was willing to forgive him.

Perdita was a needy baby, waking up every hour, in constant need of attention. It was as if she could feel the bad vibes and uncomfortable atmosphere between her parents. Laura did all she could for the child, and was somewhat heartened to have Randy helping her, supporting her throughout. This was how they'd always said it would be, but Laura couldn't help but question Randy's motives: was he doing this through guilt, or a genuine desire to get involved as much as possible? It scared Laura that she could be so suspicious of her lover, but after what had happened, she was scared to trust him again.

They finally got a couple of hours to sit and talk, when Randy's mom took the baby for a while. Despite everything that had happened with her son, Elaine was still a doting grandma, and Laura relied on her experience and support. Elaine could see the strain that the situation was putting her son and Laura under, and just wanted to help smooth things over. By giving them some time alone, she hoped that they could sort things out.

They sat in the garden, too much of a distance still between them. Laura was the first to speak.

"I don't understand what happened with us."

Randy sighed, he hardly understood himself, "I got scared."

"You don't think I was scared too?"

"I was just thinking about myself. About how I couldn't be a good dad, about how I felt trapped, about how I react to stuff… I just let things get on top of me and I ended up convincing myself that you'd be better off without me, that the baby would be fucked up if it had me for a father, and you'd both be better off without me in your lives."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"How could I?" Randy looked at Laura, willing her to understand but fully accepting that she may not. "How could I say those words to you and hurt you like that? I never stopped loving you, and I never wanted you to be hurt."

"What the hell did you think just cutting all contact with me was gonna do? You don't think I was fucking devastated? I was imagining all sorts of shit, I thought it was something I'd done… I thought you hated me for trapping you or something,"

"I wasn't thinking straight. I know now… I know." Randy attempted to take Laura's hand, but she moved away from him a little.

"I'm trying to understand you Randy… it's difficult, but I am trying. You were scared… I just wish you'd have talked to me about it. Fuck, Randy we could have worked all this out before… we could have talked about it. I'm not saying we could have worked things out, but we could have had a go… it didn't need to come to this."

"I know. Laura, I know that I fucked up, I made mistakes, and I'm just begging that you'll forgive me and let us get over this."

"I do forgive you… this was never about forgiveness Randy, I love you and I'm just happy to have you back… it's about understanding and working out where we go from here." There was a weariness in Laura's voice, a distance and despair that broke Randy's heart.

"Let me prove to you that I'm sorry, that I'll never do this again… marry me." He hadn't planned a proposal, but it seemed like the right thing to do. It felt like the right thing too.

"I wish solving this was as simple as that Randy." Her heart had leapt a little at the proposal, but she knew it was for all the wrong reasons. "I can't marry you, not now. Not for these reasons."

"So what do I have to do to get you to understand how I feel about you?"

She sighed, "give me time. I need to learn to trust you again. Just be the best dad to Perdita that you can be; you don't have to be the perfect dad, but love her, don't resent her, and I think I can start trusting you again. I don't think you realise quite how reliant I am on you."

She did understand him, that much was clear now. She'd read into his words, and discovered the secret he was reluctant to admit even to himself. He had resented the baby. At first, the idea of having a child was great, but as the time got closer Randy had realised the changes that would take place, the fact that he would have to share Laura with the child, and he had reacted badly. All of his other insecurities and fears had masked this real feeling.

"You know me better than I know myself." He said the words with no bitterness, just contrition. "I don't resent her any more. I did, I was reluctant to share you, but it's not about that, is it? It's about you and me loving and protecting her. And I will, I promise I will."

"I know." Laura finally allowed Randy to embrace her, to hold her tightly, "I know."

Laura had long since given up on a fairytale ending, she knew they only happened in the books she read. This, it was as close as she was ever going to get. They both had issues to work through, and a child to raise, but they'd dealt with so many problems to get this far, she felt like they were in a better position to deal with whatever life threw at them.

* * *

A/N: I'm guessing some people won't like the ending. Sorry, but I don't really do happy ever after. I do like to leave a little bit of hope though… I highly doubt there will ever be a sequel, but you never know. 


End file.
